A small, chewy chocolate cake or bar; in folklore, a friendly household spirit believed to help with chores.
The chocolate dessert 'brownie' comes from the adjective 'brown.' The folklore creature comes from Scottish tradition, possibly named for its brown color. Both meanings have been in use since the 19th century.
The brownie dessert became wildly popular in America in the early 1900s, and interestingly, the folklore brownie (a household spirit) had been part of British and Scottish culture for centuries before that. The overlap in names is pure coincidence, but it shows how mythology and food can share the same linguistic space.
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