verdigris

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“
There is a school of thought that says the alchemists mistook vitriol for verdigris, which is copper (II) acetate.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A blue or green powder consisting of basic cupric acetate used as a paint pigment and fungicide.
  2. noun A green patina or crust of copper sulfate or copper chloride formed on copper, brass, and bronze exposed to air or seawater for long periods of time.

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Examples (50)

  • The beautiful word verdigris evokes a greeny-grey colour due to its association with the French words vert "green" and gris "grey", but this is a folk etymology.
  • There was nothing left of my blood or of the brown powder in the silver bowl, nothing save a black residue, like a verdigris, on the inside. —  Smoke and Mirrors, by Neil Gaiman.
  • Turning the key, I noticed that the brass fittings of the lock were covered with verdigris, and, as the trunk opened, I shrank back in horror. —  Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, V1
  • Tess had long cherished this island of privacy in downtown Baltimore, with its view of the verdigris-domed Basilica of the Assumption. —  Lippman, Laura - [Tess Monaghan 03] - Butchers Hill
  • There is a school of thought that says the alchemists mistook vitriol for verdigris, which is copper (II) acetate. —  HogwartsProfessor.com
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English vertegrez, from Old French verte grez, alteration of vert-de-Grice : verd, green; see verdant + de, of (from Latin dē; see de-) + Grice, Greece.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also verdigrease (prob. often associated with English grease, as also with ambergris); from Middle English verdegrese, verdegrece, verdegrecs, verdgrese, verte grece, verte grez, from Old French verd de gris, “verdigrease, a Spanish greene” (Cotgrave), also vert de gris, French vert-degris (the Middle English form verte grece glossed by Middle Latin viride Grecum, literally ‘Greek green’): Old French verd, vert (from Middle Latin viride), green; de, of; Gris, Greeks, plural of Gri, from Latin Græcus, Greek: see Greek and Grew. For the name ‘Greek green’, cf. Middle High German grüenspan, spangrüen, German grünspan, Swedish spanskgröna, spanskgrönt, Danish spanskgrönt, Dutch spaansch-groen, verdigris, from Middle Latin viride Hispanum (also viride Hispanicum), ‘Spanish green.’ The F. vert de gris has been erroneously explained as ‘green of gray’ (gris, gray: see grise); the form verte grez as possibly for vert aigret, green produced by acid (vinegar: see eager and vinegar); also as ‘green grit’ (grez, grit: see grit); or as substituted for another term for verdigris, namely Old French verderis, from Middle Latin virideæris, verdigris, literally ‘green of copper’ (æris,gen. of æs, copper or bronze). Cf. Old French verdet, verdigris, diminutive of verd, green.
  2. from verdigris, n.
 

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/ˈvərdɪgris/
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