Bronze is a metal made by melting copper and tin together, creating something stronger and more useful than either metal alone. For thousands of years, bronze was humanity's most important metal for making tools, weapons, and art.

Around 3300 BC, people discovered that mixing about 90% copper with 10% tin produced bronze, which was harder than copper but easier to work with than iron. This discovery was so transformative that historians call the period from roughly 3300 BC to 1200 BC the Bronze Age. Civilizations used bronze to forge swords, spearheads, shields, helmets, farming tools, and intricate statues. The famous Greek and Roman statues you see in museums were often cast in bronze.

Today, bronze still has important uses. Ships use bronze propellers because the metal resists corrosion from seawater. Bells are often made of bronze because it produces a beautiful, resonant tone. Bronze is also used for third-place medals in competitions like the Olympics, ranking after gold and silver.

The word bronze can also describe a reddish-brown color, like a bronze sunset or someone's bronzed skin after spending time in the sun. As a verb, to bronze means to make something that color, or to become that color. When something is described as having a bronze hue, it has that warm, metallic brown color characteristic of the metal itself.