sorrel vs tawny

sorrel

noun
  • A brown colour, with a tint of red. 

  • Rumex acetosa (common sorrel, garden sorrel), sometimes used as a salad vegetable. 

  • The roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa. 

  • Members of genus Oxalis or family Oxalidaceae, woodsorrels. 

  • A drink, consumed especially in the Caribbean around Christmas, made from the flowers of Hibiscus sabdariffa: hibiscus tea. 

adj
  • Of a brown colour, with a tint of red. (especially: a sorrel horse) 

tawny

noun
  • A light brown to brownish orange colour. 

  • Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”) 

  • In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks. 

  • Tawny owl. 

  • Tawny frogmouth. 

  • The common bullfinch or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula). 

  • Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name). 

adj
  • Of a light brown to brownish orange colour. 

verb
  • To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn. 

  • To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn. 

How often have the words sorrel and tawny occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )