Tawny is a yellowish

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

 brown color

Color

Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...

. The word means "tan-colored," from Anglo-Norman

Anglo-Norman language

Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....

 tauné "associated with the brownish-yellow of tanned leather

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

," from Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 tané "to tan hides," from Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...

 tannare, from tannum "crushed oak bark," used in tanning leather, probably from a Celtic source (e.g. Breton

Breton language

Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...

 tann, "oak tree").

Electronic definitions of tawny

Other than CD5700, there are other hex numbers that are used for this color, including CF5300 and CE5600.

The color burnt orange, having the hex number CC5500, is sometimes considered to be a close approximation to tawny.

See also

• List of colors
• Tawny port
• Tenné
  Tenné
  In heraldry, tenné or tawny or tenny is a "stain", a rarely used tincture, an orangish brown colour, at least in Continental European use....
  
  , the color used in heraldry