Iridescent Zest Turquoise

Latin Īris, rainbow — adjectival suffix -escent, named for the Greek goddess of the rainbow. As a color modifier, iridescent implies a saturated-and-multi-spectrum-shifting quality, the bright color of peacock-feather-and-soap-bubble structurally-colored-and-thin-film optical-interference patterns. Sits at the bright-and-shifting end of the grid, parallel to prismatic and holographic in usage.

French zeste, citrus-peel-and-bright-tang. As a color modifier, zest implies a bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil quality, the visual register of Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest hand-bright-citrus-peel-and-aromatic-oil Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot zest-and-bright-citrus-peel surfaces under Provençal-and-Sicilian-citrus-zest-and-Mediterranean-bergamot Menton-and-Sicily-and-Calabria-citrus-grove citrus-grove-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to tang and bergamot 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.