Quickening Flurry Jade

Old English cwic, living / lively — present-participle of quicken. As a color modifier, quickening implies a saturated-and-coming-alive-and-active quality where the hue accelerates visual engagement. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to animated and invigorating in usage.

Imitative origin, quick-burst-of-snow. As a color modifier, flurry implies a quick-burst-of-snow-and-light-and-fluttering quality, the visual register of Adirondack-and-Vermont-flurry hand-quick-burst-of-snow-and-light-and-fluttering Adirondack-and-Vermont-flurry-and-New-England-snow flurry-and-quick-burst-of-snow surfaces under Adirondack-and-Vermont-flurry-and-New-England-snow Adirondack-and-Green-Mountains-and-White-Mountains New-England-snow-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to slush and thaw in usage.

Two minerals share the name: nephrite (a calcium-magnesium silicate, dominant in Chinese jade) and jadeite (a sodium-aluminum silicate, dominant in Burmese imperial jade). Both have been carved in China since at least the Neolithic. The color refers to high-quality apple-green jadeite: a saturated, slightly muted yellow-green with the waxy translucency of polished stone. Cooler than apple, warmer than mint, with the millennial cultural weight of yu, the stone of heaven.