Splashy Day Sky

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — adjectival suffix -y, evoking the sound of liquid impact. As a color modifier, splashy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing-and-bold quality, the bright color of Pop-Art-and-1950s-Tiki mid-century-modern showy-decor advertising-and-display. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to showy and flamboyant in usage.

Old English dæg, daylight period. As a color modifier, day implies a midday-and-broad-daylight quality, the visual register of Mediterranean-and-temperate mid-day full-sun atmospheric clarity-and-shadow open-sky working-and-walking surfaces under noon-day overhead light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to noon and morn in usage.

The blue of a clear sky at noon — produced by Rayleigh scattering, the preferential dispersion of shorter wavelengths through atmospheric molecules. Air itself is colorless; the color we see is sunlight scattered toward our eyes by every cubic kilometer above. The reference shade is mid-latitude noon under a high pressure system: a clean, slightly green-shifted blue with the luminous depth of light scattered across an entire hemisphere of air.