Etched Tufted 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.

Old French touffe, tuft. As a color modifier, tufted implies a hand-tufted-and-puffed quality, the visual register of Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque-tufted-upholstery hand-tufted-and-puffed-and-upholstered velvet-and-silk-and-leather tufted-and-puffed-upholstery surfaces under Edwardian-and-Belle-Époque hand-tufted-upholstery-and-cushion light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to fluff and flock 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.