the.com/electroplating

means The process of using an electric current to coat one metal with a thin layer of another, usually to make something cheap look shiny, protected, or expensive.

from Built from 'electro-' (Greek 'elektron', amber, the stuff ancient Greeks rubbed to produce static charge) plus 'plate' (from Old French 'plat', meaning flat or flat piece of metal). The technique itself emerged in the early-to-mid 1800s as scientists worked out how to push metal ions through a solution using current, with 'electroplate' and 'electroplating' entering English as the practical vocabulary for the new craft of dressing base metal in borrowed finery.