Striking Lyra Lime

The progressive participle of strike, to hit. Used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that command immediate attention. Striking red, striking blue: the implication is saturation combined with visual impact. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside bold and punchy.

Greek λύρα, lyre-of-Orpheus. As a color modifier, lyra implies a small-summer-constellation-and-Orpheus-lyre quality, the visual register of summer-Lyra-and-Orpheus-lyre hand-small-summer-constellation-and-Orpheus-lyre summer-Lyra-and-Orpheus-lyre-and-Bortle-1-sky lyra-and-small-summer-constellation-and-Orpheus-lyre surfaces under summer-Lyra-and-Orpheus-lyre-and-Bortle-1-sky July-and-August-summer-zenith ring-nebula-and-stellar-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vega and cygnus in usage.

Citrus aurantiifolia and its key-lime cousin — small, intensely sour green citrus carried by Arab traders from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean by the eleventh century, then to the Caribbean with Columbus. The color refers to the skin of a fully ripe Persian lime: a saturated, slightly yellow-shifted green with the matte finish of citrus rind. Cooler than chartreuse, sharper than sage, with the same chlorophyll the fruit loses if left to ripen to yellow.