As a description of skin color, brown stands apart from white, black, red, and yellow in that it is not strongly associated with any specific racial group. In certain contexts it denotes a relatively light skin color in a person of mixed white and black ancestry. In other contexts it is simply used to mean nonwhite or non-European. While brown is often used with positive connotations, it can also sound condescending or offensive when used by whites. The term people of color is generally preferable to either nonwhite or brown-skinned peoples when referring to peoples of other than European origin.
