Squared Plumed Teal

Latin quadrātus, four-sided — past-participle of square. As a color modifier, squared implies a clear-and-rectilinear-and-orthogonal quality where the hue carries the visual register of right-angle architectural-and-grid alignment. Sits at the crisp-and-balanced end of the grid, parallel to aligned and plumb in usage.

Latin plūma, feather. As a color modifier, plumed implies a feathered-and-decorative-feather quality, the visual register of Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque-plumed-hat hand-set-and-decorative ostrich-and-egret-feather Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque plumed-and-feathered-hat surfaces under Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque plumed-hat-and-feather millinery-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to fluff and down 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.