Plain Magnus Teal

Latin planus, flat, level — used as a color modifier since the medieval period for hues that read as undecorated and direct. Plain white, plain blue: moderate saturation, no shift, no surface effect. Sits in the crisp-bucket center, with the implication of restraint rather than absence.

Latin magnus, great-or-large. As a color modifier, magnus implies a Latin-great-and-Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta quality, the visual register of Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-magnus hand-Latin-great-and-Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-and-Charlemagne-Carolus-Magnus magnus-and-Latin-great surfaces under Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-and-Charlemagne-Carolus-Magnus Cologne-cathedral-and-Runnymede-meadow medieval-Latin-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to opus and virtus 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.