Can or Does Brunette refer to other ethnicities outside of Caucasian?

[Anonymous]

We don't have a word in English for people with black hair (Asian or African). Whereas we say someone is a blonde with yellow hair and brunette for people with brown hair. There's no word for gray hair either.

Someone should invent a word. I can see the issue though and any word would likely just sound racist. I've heard people like my SIL say they have Asian hair, but they mean how silky it is, not just the color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use brunette to mean dark hair (whether brown or black), regardless of ethnicity.

Brunette is for brown hair, usually darker. That's the definition. If someone has black hair, it's not brunette.

I mean the word Brunette comes from the word brown/brun. Black is not brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use brunette to mean dark hair (whether brown or black), regardless of ethnicity.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term brunette is white-centric and thus racist.

There are plenty of Middle Eastern, Black, Latino, and mixed race people with naturally brown hair.

[Anonymous]

The posters saying it’s racist need to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The posters saying it’s racist need to stop.

They should, but they won’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brunette just means brown hair. It's somewhat redundant when referring to cultures where everyone has dark hair, so i guess i tend to picture a white woman with brown hair because otherwise, why distinguish brunette? Technically you could though.

+1 to this answer. Sometime I wish DCUM had upvoting.

[Anonymous]

I'm south Asian, have dark brown hair, don't necessarily think of myself as a brunette and don't find this phrase at all racist, because it makes sense to have a word for brown haired when your society has a mix of hair colors so mostly European people use it. Doesn't make it a racist word.

My husband is Polish and grew up in a land where many people are blonde and he said anyone with brown hair was referred to as "Black."