Surveyed Spun Robin

Old French surveer, to look upon — past-participle of survey. As a color modifier, surveyed implies a clear-and-measured-and-coordinated quality, the crisp color of Mason-Dixon-Line-and-Royal-Navy-Hydrographic scientific-and-cadastral land-and-sea surveying tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-mapped end of the grid, parallel to mapped and plotted in usage.

Old English spinnan, to-spin. As a color modifier, spun implies a hand-spun-fiber quality, the visual register of hand-spinning-wheel hand-spun-and-twisted wool-and-flax-and-cotton hand-spun-fiber-on-spinning-wheel surfaces under hand-spun-and-twisted spinning-wheel working light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to woven and knit in usage.

The American robin (Turdus migratorius) — though the color refers not to the bird's red breast but to the egg, robin's-egg blue, a pale slightly green-shifted blue produced by biliverdin pigment in the eggshell. The color is the inside surface of a fresh robin's nest at peak laying: a soft, slightly green-shifted pale blue with the matte finish of avian eggshell. Lighter than aqua, cooler than turquoise.