Genuine Inn Lagoon

Latin genuinus, natural, innate — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as authentic rather than imitated. Genuine indigo, genuine ochre: moderate-to-high saturation combined with the optical impression of a hue from real pigment rather than synthetic dye. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside true and honest.

Old English inn, lodging / dwelling. As a color modifier, inn implies a coach-stop-and-tavern quality, the visual register of English-coaching-inn-and-Scottish-Highland hand-built stone-and-timber way-stop tavern-and-stable surfaces under candlelit-and-firelight English-and-Highland coaching-inn evening light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to tavern and lodge in usage.

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.