black-and-tan

4.3

A pattern of black and tan colors on an animal's fur, often on dogs

adjective
/blæk ənd tæn/

: bicolor

The black-and-tan dachshund curled up on the sofa, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Examples

It had wiry black-and-tan hair, mostly black, and seemed to wear a perpetual smile.

Fiction book (2000)
She adopted a black-and-tan puppy that quickly became the favorite of the family.
At his feet lay two black-and-tan foxhounds.

Fiction book (1999)
And then there's also the King Charles and Ruby, where they're black and tan or all red.
There were three small black and tan hound puppies there, curled around one another.

Fiction book (1998)
Behind them, like Roman sentinels, were three rows of large black and tan Doberman Pinschers.

Fiction book (1997)
I've got a black-and-tan bitch out there, Lucy; she's the one causing all the calamity.

Fiction book (1996)
Yelping and growling, they thrashed around the yard in a tangle of black and tan.

Fiction book (1999)
We met a friendly black-and-tan hound at the park who loved to play fetch.

Synonyms

bicolor

vsblack-and-tan

1 4.4

Something that has two different colors

is limited to a specific color combination commonly seen in animal fur

bicolored

vsblack-and-tan

1 4.2

Having two different colors

is specific to a particular two color pairing often in animal coats

How Two-Colored

black-and-tan

4.3

bicolored

1 4.2

multicolored

8 2.9

solid-colored

1 3.4

Surface Forms

black-and-tan positive

Morphology

black-and-tan = black + tan (transparent) = black + tan

Direct, literal combination of two colour adjectives; learners can infer the meaning from the component colours.

Etymology

The word black-and-tan is simply made from the color words black and tan, and 'tan' originally named the brown color of leather and is the same 'tan' in 'suntan'. So black-and-tan describes a pattern of black and 'light brown', like on a dog's coat or a pair of boots.