Utilitarian Fast Teal

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Old English fæst, abstinence-from-food. As a color modifier, fast implies a Lenten-and-fasting-and-restraint quality, the visual register of Roman-Catholic-and-Eastern-Orthodox-Fast Lenten-and-Ramadan-fasting religious-fast-and-restraint austere surfaces under fasting-and-restraint austere ecclesiastical light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to lent and vigil in usage.

Anas crecca, the small dabbling duck whose male in breeding plumage sports a chestnut head crossed by a glossy green-blue stripe. The color refers to that stripe — the iridescent panel just behind the eye: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical depth of structural color rather than pigment. Cooler than cypress, warmer than cerulean, with the ornithological specificity of a color named for one feather of one bird.