核心畫面

Picture three markets in a row, named by colour. The white market is the maker's own approved sellers. The black market is where things that are illegal to sell change hands. Between them sits a grey one: everything in it is real and selling it breaks no law, yet it runs along a route nobody official chose — stock brought in from elsewhere, bought up in bulk, resold when supply runs short. Grey is the colour of that in-between space, and every use of the phrase points back to it.

可以想成三個並排的市場,用顏色命名。白市是廠商自己認可的通路。黑市賣的是法律不准賣的東西。中間那個灰的:東西是真的,更多收起可以想成三個並排的市場,用顏色命名。白市是廠商自己認可的通路。黑市賣的是法律不准賣的東西。中間那個灰的:東西是真的,買賣也不犯法,但走的是沒有人正式安排的路線——從別的地方帶進來、被大量掃走、缺貨時再高價轉手。灰就是這塊中間地帶的顏色,這個詞的每一種用法都指回這裡。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary records the phrase as formed by analogy with black market: the colour is stepped down from black to grey to mark trading that is unofficial without being illegal.

資料記載這個說法是照著 black market(黑市)造出來的:把顏色從黑退成灰,用來標示「不在正式管道上,但也不違法」的買賣。

Wiktionary entry for grey market, etymology: "By analogy with black market." (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1289417742)

One branch

商品的灰色買賣

這是最日常的一支,畫面就是那塊中間地帶本身。

noun · C1

A way of buying and selling real goods that are hard to get, through sellers the maker did not choose or approve. Nothing about it breaks the law, but many people feel it is not quite fair or honest.

灰色市場