Etched Cycle Teal

German ätzen, to etch — past-participle of etch. As a color modifier, etched implies a clear-and-precisely-incised quality, the crisp color of Rembrandt-and-Dürer hand-pulled etching-print fine-line incised-image. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to engraved and inscribed in usage.

Greek kýklos, circle / cycle. As a color modifier, cycle implies a repeating-and-circular-time quality, the visual register of seasonal-and-lunar-and-astronomical repeating-and-cyclic period-marker celestial-and-natural cycle-and-rhythm surfaces under repeating cyclic-and-seasonal light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to phase and year 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.