Splashy Sway Turquoise

Imitative-onomatopoeic origin — adjectival suffix -y, evoking the sound of liquid impact. As a color modifier, splashy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing-and-bold quality, the bright color of Pop-Art-and-1950s-Tiki mid-century-modern showy-decor advertising-and-display. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to showy and flamboyant in usage.

Middle English swēven, to-move-side-to-side. As a color modifier, sway implies a side-to-side-and-rocking-and-rhythmic quality, the visual register of willow-branch-and-tall-grass-sway hand-side-to-side-and-rocking-and-rhythmic willow-branch-and-tall-grass-and-pendulum-clock swayed-and-side-to-side-and-rocking-and-rhythmic surfaces under willow-branch-and-tall-grass-and-pendulum-clock breeze-rocked-and-pendulum-and-cradle riverbank-meadow-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to drift and float 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.