Drab is a dull, light-brown color. It originally took its name from a fabric of the same color made of undyed, homespun wool. The word was first used in English in 1686. It probably originated from the Old French word drap, which meant cloth. The normalized color coordinates for drab are identical to sand dune, mode beige and bistre brown, which were first recorded as color names in English, respectively, in 1925, 1928, and 1930. The word gradually came to mean dull, lifeless, or monotonous.