anthracite

noun

Etymology: Via Latin from Ancient Greek ἀνθρακῖτις (anthrakîtis, “a kind of coal”), from ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “charcoal”). By surface analysis, anthrac- + -ite.

1. A form of carbonized ancient plants; the hardest and cleanest-burning of all the coals.
2. A dark grey color.

   “In the past, when the author was studying, architects only employed a very restricted palette of colours: the white of modernism, black, a “friendly” shade of anthracite and light grey!”