paktong

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Anglicisation of Cantonese 白銅白铜 (baak6 tung4, “white copper”).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

paktong (countable and uncountable, plural paktongs)

  1. An alloy of zinc, copper and nickel, closely resembling silver, of Chinese origin; any of a number of similar alloys developed in imitation of the Chinese product.
    • 1980, James Thomas Herbert Baily, The Connoisseur: an Illustrated Magazine for Collectors, volume 205, page 108:
      Chinese export metalwork consists almost entirely of three categories: silverware; pewterware; and paktong, an alloy of zinc, copper and nickel, closely resembling silver, which the Chinese also described as tutenague, and which was probably worked by white metalsmiths also making pewter.
    • 1928, The Metal industry, volume 31, page 227:
      Many German-silver paktongs were soon flourishing under a variety of trade names, []
    • 1995, Duncan R. Hook, David R. M. Gaimster, British Museum. Dept of Scientific Research, Trade and Discovery: The Scientific Study of Artefacts from Post-Medieval Europe and Beyond, page 265:
      From the surviving descriptions it seems likely that during the later eighteenth century most paktong items were sold (in England at least) misleadingly under the name tutenag.

Synonyms

[edit]
alloy of copper, nickel and zinc

Translations

[edit]