Plainspoken Wane Lagoon

English compound plain + spoken — past-participle of speak. As a color modifier, plainspoken implies a clear-and-direct-and-straightforward quality where the hue carries the visual register of unembellished-honest declaration. Sits at the crisp-and-honest end of the grid, parallel to candid and direct in usage.

Old English wanian, to lessen. As a color modifier, wane implies a waning-moon-and-fading quality, the visual register of waning-moon-and-late-summer gradually-diminishing-and-receding waning-and-fading celestial-body-and-seasonal-light surfaces under waning-and-receding lunar-and-seasonal light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to phase and eld in usage.

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.