Phosphoric Tufted Turquoise

Greek phōsphóros, light-bringer — adjectival suffix -ic. As a color modifier, phosphoric implies a saturated-and-cool-glow quality, the bright color of match-tip-strike and firefly phosphorus-emission luminescence. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to phosphorescent and fluorescent in usage.

Old French touffe, tuft. As a color modifier, tufted implies a hand-tufted-and-puffed quality, the visual register of Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque-tufted-upholstery hand-tufted-and-puffed-and-upholstered velvet-and-silk-and-leather tufted-and-puffed-upholstery surfaces under Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque hand-tufted-upholstery-and-cushion light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to fluff and flock in usage.

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.