Functional Vigil Teal

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Latin vigilia, night-watch. As a color modifier, vigil implies a night-watch-and-prayer quality, the visual register of medieval-monastic-and-Roman-Catholic night-watch-and-vigil monastic-and-religious-vigil candlelit-and-lantern-light night-vigil surfaces under medieval-monastic-vigil candlelit-and-lantern light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to vesper and mass 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.