"Brownie" meaning in English

See Brownie in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Etymology: Brown + -ie Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|Brown|ie}} Brown + -ie Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} Brownie
  1. A nickname of the surname Brown.
    Sense id: en-Brownie-en-name-ifGse74C
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Noun

IPA: /ˈbɹaʊni/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation] Audio: EN-AU ck1 Brownie2.ogg [Australia] Forms: Brownies [plural]
Rhymes: -aʊni Etymology: From brownie (“helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story "The Brownies" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts. Etymology templates: {{m|en|brownie||helpful elf}} brownie (“helpful elf”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} Brownie (plural Brownies)
  1. (British, Canada, Australia) A junior Girl Guide. Tags: Australia, British, Canada Categories (topical): People, Scouting Synonyms (junior Girl Guide): Rosebud [historical] Translations (junior Girl Guide): sudenpentu (Finnish), sudari (Finnish), Brídín [masculine] (Irish), Brigín [masculine] (Irish), Donnóg [feminine] (Irish), zuchna [feminine] (Polish), zuchenka [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-Brownie-en-noun-kDSP7PU7 Disambiguation of People: 3 73 24 Disambiguation of Scouting: 2 48 50 Categories (other): Australian English, British English, Canadian English Disambiguation of 'junior Girl Guide': 71 29 Disambiguation of 'junior Girl Guide': 71 29
  2. (US) A junior Girl Scout. Tags: US Categories (topical): Scouting Translations (junior Girl Scout): sudenpentu (Finnish), sudari (Finnish), Brídín [masculine] (Irish), Brigín [masculine] (Irish), Donnóg [feminine] (Irish)
    Sense id: en-Brownie-en-noun-AFjREvyC Disambiguation of Scouting: 2 48 50 Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms suffixed with -ie Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 26 70 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 3 28 69 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ie: 8 36 57 Disambiguation of 'junior Girl Scout': 26 74
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for Brownie meaning in English (7.1kB)

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "brownie",
        "3": "",
        "4": "helpful elf"
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  "etymology_text": "From brownie (“helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story \"The Brownies\" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts.",
  "forms": [
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      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
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          "_dis": "3 73 24",
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        {
          "_dis": "2 48 50",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "1958 July 14, Boot by a Brash Brownie, LIFE, page 124,\nIn Toronto young Brownies of the Girl Guides, the Canadian girl scouts, stood in parade formation with full-fledged Guides."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby-Boom Generation, page 102",
          "text": "The ideal Brownie pack, according to the 1960 Guide Commissioner′s Handbook, would contain Brownies who were ‘alert, clean, tidy and punctual. Their uniform should be correct.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Tammy M. Proctor, Scouting for Girls: A Century of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, page 85",
          "text": "Another Guide group that persevered through internment was the 1st Chefoo (which had Brownies, Guides and Rangers) in Shandong province, China.[…]The November 2, 1942, entry in the Brownie logbook pleads for cheerfulness in the face of adversity: “We are in need of smiles. Have you got them ready, Brownies?”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A junior Girl Guide."
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      "id": "en-Brownie-en-noun-kDSP7PU7",
      "links": [
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          "_dis1": "71 29",
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          "word": "Rosebud"
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        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "word": "sudenpentu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "word": "sudari"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Brídín"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Brigín"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Donnóg"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "zuchna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 29",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
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        {
          "text": "1952 March 24, Girl Scouts: They Are Observing Their 40th Birthday, LIFE, page 109,\nAny girl willing to follow the simple rules can join the Girl Scouts. As Brownies they will spend most of their time playing games and singing songs like the Brownie Smile Song: “I′ve something in my pocket; It belongs across my face, And I keep it very close at hand In a most convenient place.... I′m sure you couldn′t guess it If you guessed a long, long while, So I′ll take it out and put it on—It′s a great big Brownie smile!”"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Samuel F. Pickering, “The Blue Caterpillar”, in The Blue Caterpillar and Other Essays, page 63",
          "text": "Most marchers were children, Girl and Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies. One Cub Scout pulled his sister in a Radio Flyer decorated with small American flags. A Brownie pushed a baby carriage crammed with a zoo of stuffed animals.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Kim Perone, Vacuum Like No One Is Watching, page 15",
          "text": "After all, the meetings were held at my own house and my own mother was the queen. Doesn′t that make me some sort of Brownie princess? Apparently not.\nAs we graduated from Brownies to Girl Scouts, Mom was again my leader.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A junior Girl Scout."
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      "id": "en-Brownie-en-noun-AFjREvyC",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) A junior Girl Scout."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        {
          "_dis1": "26 74",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
          "word": "sudenpentu"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "26 74",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
          "word": "sudari"
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          "_dis1": "26 74",
          "code": "ga",
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          "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
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        {
          "_dis1": "26 74",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Donnóg"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹaʊni/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊni"
    },
    {
      "audio": "EN-AU ck1 Brownie2.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9e/EN-AU_ck1_Brownie2.ogg/EN-AU_ck1_Brownie2.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/EN-AU_ck1_Brownie2.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Brownie",
    "Juliana Horatia Ewing"
  ],
  "word": "Brownie"
}

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  "etymology_text": "From brownie (“helpful elf”). Specifically, inspired by the story \"The Brownies\" by Juliana Horatia Ewing (published in 1870, The Brownies and Other Tales), in which two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful brownies or lazy boggarts.",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby-Boom Generation, page 102",
          "text": "The ideal Brownie pack, according to the 1960 Guide Commissioner′s Handbook, would contain Brownies who were ‘alert, clean, tidy and punctual. Their uniform should be correct.’",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2009, Tammy M. Proctor, Scouting for Girls: A Century of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, page 85",
          "text": "Another Guide group that persevered through internment was the 1st Chefoo (which had Brownies, Guides and Rangers) in Shandong province, China.[…]The November 2, 1942, entry in the Brownie logbook pleads for cheerfulness in the face of adversity: “We are in need of smiles. Have you got them ready, Brownies?”",
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          "text": "1952 March 24, Girl Scouts: They Are Observing Their 40th Birthday, LIFE, page 109,\nAny girl willing to follow the simple rules can join the Girl Scouts. As Brownies they will spend most of their time playing games and singing songs like the Brownie Smile Song: “I′ve something in my pocket; It belongs across my face, And I keep it very close at hand In a most convenient place.... I′m sure you couldn′t guess it If you guessed a long, long while, So I′ll take it out and put it on—It′s a great big Brownie smile!”"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Samuel F. Pickering, “The Blue Caterpillar”, in The Blue Caterpillar and Other Essays, page 63",
          "text": "Most marchers were children, Girl and Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies. One Cub Scout pulled his sister in a Radio Flyer decorated with small American flags. A Brownie pushed a baby carriage crammed with a zoo of stuffed animals.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Kim Perone, Vacuum Like No One Is Watching, page 15",
          "text": "After all, the meetings were held at my own house and my own mother was the queen. Doesn′t that make me some sort of Brownie princess? Apparently not.\nAs we graduated from Brownies to Girl Scouts, Mom was again my leader.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "A junior Girl Scout."
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        "(US) A junior Girl Scout."
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      "tags": [
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      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "Rosebud"
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
      "word": "sudenpentu"
    },
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
      "word": "sudari"
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      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
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      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
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        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Brigín"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
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    },
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      "sense": "junior Girl Guide",
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      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
      "word": "sudenpentu"
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      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "junior Girl Scout",
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      "code": "ga",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.