verdigris

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the blue-green patina that forms on copper, brass, or bronze exposed to air and moisture

   Years of rain covered the bronze roof with verdigris.

2. 2
   noun

   a blue-green pigment traditionally made from copper salts, especially copper acetate

   The painter used verdigris to create a vivid green glaze.

3. 3
   verb

   to cover, color, or become covered with a verdigris-like green

   Salt air had begun to verdigris the copper fittings.

From Middle English vertegrez and Old French vert de Grece ("green of Greece"), later altered in French. The name first referred to the green copper compound used as pigment and then to the similar patina that develops on copper alloys.

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