Ironed Omen Teal

Old English īsern, iron — past-participle of iron. As a color modifier, ironed implies a clear-and-smoothed-and-pressed quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern freshly-ironed-shirt-and-trouser dress-attire textile finish. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to pressed and starched in usage.

Latin omen, prophetic-sign-or-portent. As a color modifier, omen implies a prophetic-sign-and-augur-and-portent quality, the visual register of Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex hand-prophetic-sign-and-augur-and-portent Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex-and-bird-flight omen-and-prophetic-sign-and-augur surfaces under Roman-augur-omen-and-Etruscan-haruspex-and-bird-flight Capitoline-Hill-and-Etruscan-templum prophetic-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to sigil and rune 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.