Tan is a pale tone of brown. The name is derived from tannum ( oak bark) used in the tanning of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

. The first recorded use of ''tan'' as a

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

name in English was in the year 1590. Chestnut Oak Bark

Colors which are similar or may be considered synonymous to tan include: tawny, tenné, and fulvous. __TOC__

Variations of tan

Sandy tan

Displayed at right is the color ''Sandy tan''. This color was formulated by Crayola in 2000 as a Crayola marker color.

Tan (Crayola)

Displayed at right is the orangish tone of tan called ''tan'' since 1958 in Crayola crayons and 1990 in Crayola markers.

Windsor tan

Displayed at right is the color ''Windsor tan''. The first recorded use of ''Windsor tan'' as a color name in English was in 1925.

Tuscan tan

Displayed at right is the color ''Tuscan tan''. The first recorded use of ''Tuscan tan'' as a color name in English was in 1926. The normalized color coordinates for Tuscan tan are identical to café au lait and French beige, which were first recorded as color names in English in 1839 and 1927, respectively.

In human culture

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

* Tan is the color of the United States Army Rangers beret as well as Canada's Canadian Special Operations Regiment and Joint Task Force 2.http://www.csor-rosc.forces.gc.ca/index-eng.asp. Sunbathing * When a person sunbathes to make their

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

darker, they are said to be ''getting a tan''. United States politics * The Barack Obama tan suit controversy was an incident when US President Barack Obama wore a tan colored suit during a press conference.

References

{{Authority control Shades of brown