Tucked Creep Teal

Old English tūcian, to torment / pull — past-participle of tuck. As a color modifier, tucked implies a clear-and-fitted-and-arranged quality where the hue carries the visual register of carefully-tucked-and-neatly-fitted shirt-into-trouser dress-attire. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to trim and pressed in usage.

Old English crēopan, to-move-slowly. As a color modifier, creep implies a slow-stealthy-and-spreading quality, the visual register of ivy-on-wall-and-mist-creep hand-slow-stealthy-and-spreading ivy-on-wall-and-mist-creep-and-spreading-shadow crept-and-slow-stealthy-and-spreading surfaces under ivy-on-wall-and-mist-creep-and-spreading-shadow ruined-cloister-and-river-valley-and-evening-meadow encroaching-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to lurk and prowl 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.