Other forms: patinas
Patina is the soft sheen age gives to a surface. A green patina, the patina of use, build up a patina.
On copper and bronze it is a real chemical layer that protects the metal beneath, which is why the Statue of Liberty is green rather than eaten away. On furniture it is wear and polish, and stripping it destroys the value.
1nounpatinaThe soft sheen age gives to a surface.
“The old leather armchair had a lovely patina from years of use.”
patina is a surface.
Italian patina comes from Latin patina, a shallow dish, by way of the film that formed on old vessels.
Proto-Indo-European
*peth₂- — to spread
Ancient Greek
πατάνη
Latin
patina — dish, pan
Italian
patina
English, today
patina
Borrowed from Italian patina, from Latin patina (“dish, pan”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek πατάνη, either from Proto-Indo-European peth₂- (“to spread”) or from qsb-grc. a doublet of paten and patena and patine and pan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA