brownfacen.
/ˈbraʊnfeɪs/, U.S. /ˈbraʊnˌfeɪs/ Make-up worn to imitate the appearance of a brown- or dark-skinned person (typically one of South Asian, Middle Eastern, or Latin American origin or descent), esp. as part of a performance. Also: the practice of imitating such a person in this way. Cf. blackface n. 1b. This practice is now widely condemned as offensive.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [noun] > make-up > types of
blackface1847
crape hair1866
spirit gum1871
brownface1913
wet-white1922
glycerine tear1934
white-face1947
nose putty1950
nose paste1951
redface1954
yellowface1959
1913 Variety 26 Dec. 9/1 Anna Morris is doing a single turn in brownface.
1985 Winnipeg Free Press 24 May 29/3 Aida, a tale of the familiar operatic impossible love set in ancient Egypt, starred a young Sophia Loren in Ethiopian brownface.
1999 Amer. Jewish Hist. 87 299 The Betty Boop cartoons themselves frequently pair Betty with cartoon images of black jazz musicians.., and she even wears brown face as a Samoan in one cartoon.
2015 Argus Weekend (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 22 Nov. (Entertainment section) 3 Whitewashed casting and the offensiveness of brownface has pretty much dominated the pop culture conversation this week.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1913