Modest Joy Kingfisher

Latin modestus, moderate — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as understated and unwilling to claim more visual space than they need. Modest taupe, modest beige: moderate-to-low saturation combined with optical restraint. Sits at the crisp-and-quiet edge of the grid alongside quiet and plain.

Latin gaudia, delights. As a color modifier, joy implies a bright-and-radiant-and-uplifted quality, the visual register of Provençal-troubadour-and-Florentine-Carnival-joy hand-bright-and-radiant-and-uplifted Provençal-troubadour-and-Florentine-Carnival-and-Renaissance-festa joyful-and-bright-and-radiant-and-uplifted surfaces under Provençal-troubadour-and-Florentine-Carnival-and-Renaissance-festa banner-and-procession-and-piazza festival-day-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to bliss and glee in usage.

The family Alcedinidae — particularly Alcedo atthis, the European common kingfisher whose iridescent turquoise-blue plumage gives the color its name. The color refers to a male European kingfisher's wing: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the iridescent satin finish of structurally colored feathers.