Tanned describes skin that has gone darker or browner because the sun has been on it. It is not the colour a person is born with — it is a change, and it fades after a few weeks indoors. Because of that, tanned often carries the story of where someone has been: back from a beach holiday, working outside all summer, playing sport. In Britain, America, and Australia, "You look tanned!" is a compliment, suggesting health, rest, and time off. This is worth pausing on, because in Taiwan the feeling is often the opposite — many people work hard to stay pale, and 曬黑 can sound like bad news. Neither feeling is right or wrong, but the same sentence lands very differently in the two places, so listen to who is speaking. Tanned can also describe an animal skin that has been turned into leather, which is a completely separate sense from the beach one — the same word doing a different job. Softer words: someone slightly tanned might be called sun-kissed (gentle, positive); someone very dark from the sun might be deeply tanned or, in Australian and British speech, bronzed. Compare it with sunburnt, which means red, sore, and damaged — tanned is brown and not painful.