Gaudy Glint Jade

Middle English gaude, trick / showy ornament — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, gaudy implies a saturated-and-cheaply-bright-and-overdone quality, the bright color of carnival-and-fairground novelty-attraction painted-and-lit decoration. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to garish and lurid in usage.

Middle English glent, to-shine-or-glance. As a color modifier, glint implies a brief-and-glancing-and-pinpoint-shine quality, the visual register of Scottish-burn-and-anvil-spark-glint hand-brief-and-glancing-and-pinpoint-shine Scottish-burn-and-anvil-spark-and-flint-strike glinted-and-brief-and-glancing surfaces under Scottish-burn-and-anvil-spark-and-flint-strike sun-on-water-and-forge-spark fleeting-glance-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to gleam and spark 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.