Refreshing Tang Teal

Old French refreschir, to make fresh again — present-participle of refresh. As a color modifier, refreshing implies a clear-and-cool-and-revitalizing quality, the crisp color of Cornish-coast and Hebridean-island fresh-sea-air-and-cool-water revitalization. Sits at the crisp-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to fresh and bracing in usage.

Old Norse tangi, sharp-projecting-taste. As a color modifier, tang implies a sharp-and-projecting-and-bright-bite quality, the visual register of Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang hand-sharp-and-projecting-and-bright-bite Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang-and-tide-pool-bite tang-and-sharp-and-projecting surfaces under Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang-and-tide-pool-bite Outer-Hebrides-and-North-Cornish-tide-pool sharp-bite-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to zest and tart 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.