Meaning & use
brunette
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Having brown hair.
Grammar: Placed before the noun it describes: 'a brunette woman', not 'the woman is brunette' in careful usage.
Patterns
- brunette hair
- a brunette woman
Her brunette hair shone in the sunlight.
The casting notice asked for a brunette model with short hair.
nouncountable
A woman or girl with brown hair.
Grammar: Countable noun; the plural is brunettes. Traditionally feminine, like blonde for women.
Patterns
- a beautiful brunette
- a tall brunette
His sister is a brunette, like their mother.
She walked in, a cheerful brunette with glasses and a red scarf.
Word forms
| plural | brunettes |
|---|
Common combinations
- brunette hair
- Brunette hair often looks darker indoors than in sunlight.
- a beautiful brunette
- The poster showed a beautiful brunette wearing a winter coat.
- a dark brunette
- She dyed her hair from blonde to dark brunette.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brown-haired
- A plain, neutral adjective that works for anyone; brunette sounds more descriptive and is tied to women.
- dark-haired
- Broader, covering black as well as brown hair; brunette means specifically brown.
Opposites
Word family
- brunet noun
- The rare masculine form for a brown-haired man; most speakers just say 'brown-haired'.
Commonly confused: brunette or burnette? brunette or blonde?
brunette vs burnette
A frequent misspelling; the word ends in '-nette', from the French feminine ending, not '-ette' after 'burn'.
brunette vs blonde
Blonde/blond is the opposite hair color; English often uses blonde for women and blond for men or hair, just as brunette is mainly feminine.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'brunette' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Brunette can name a brown-haired woman. It is traditionally feminine, and it refers to brown hair, so combining it with blue or yellow makes no sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brunette”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.