the.com/gunmetal
a color named after dead weapons, now selling hair dryers and luxury sedans.
means A dark bluish or purplish grey, the color of weathered metal — and by extension the alloy of copper, tin, and zinc once used to cast cannons.
from A plain compound of 'gun' and 'metal,' coined in the 19th century for the bronze-like alloy used in artillery. The color sense came later, borrowed from the somber sheen of those guns, and eventually drifted free of any actual weaponry to describe anything fashionably dark and steely.
- original alloy
- copper, tin, and zinc cast into cannons
- color shift
- named for steel's bluish-gray, not the bronze alloy
- corrosion proof
- resisted seawater, so navies loved it
- modern life
- now a paint chip and nail polish
- the irony
- a war metal rebranded as quiet sophistication
for instance
gunmetal grey paint — automotive color standard used by manufacturers like bmw and mercedes-benz since the 2000s
gunmetal bronze alloy — copper-tin-zinc alloy historically used for naval cannons and still in marine hardware manufacturing