Verdigris

WORD OF THE DAY

verdigris / noun / VER-duh-greess

Definition
1a: a green or greenish-blue poisonous pigment resulting from the action of acetic acid on copper and consisting of one or more basic copper acetates
1b: normal copper acetate Cu(C2H3O2)2·H2O
2: a green or bluish deposit especially of copper carbonates formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces

Examples
“There’s a standard shower room, but also—drum roll—an outside bath, which is private thanks to a wooden fence, so you can concentrate on the canopy of tree branches shimmering and rustling overhead. This tub is made of copper, all dappled with verdigris and it rumbles loudly as it slowly fills up.”
— Gaby Soutar, The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), 13 July 2022

In Pessin’s home office, tucked into a nook under his staircase, there’s a verdigris Jean Prouvé-esque desk beneath a wall-hugging facsimile of a geometric Frank Stella painting.
— New York Times, 25 Nov. 2021

Did You Know?
“Green of Greece”—that is the literal translation of vert de Grece, the Anglo-French phrase from which we get the modern word verdigris.
 A coating of verdigris forms naturally on copper and copper alloys such as brass and bronze when those metals are exposed to air. (It can also be produced artificially.)
Like cinnabar, fuchsia, and amaranth before it, however, verdigris is also seeing increased use as a color name that can be applied to anything suggestive of its particular hue.
For more colorful history you might enjoy this article before testing your knowledge with a quiz.