Heartening Glint Lagoon

Old English heorte (heart) — present-participle of hearten. As a color modifier, heartening implies a clear-and-uplifting-and-encouraging quality where the hue carries the visual register of cheerful-encouraging color-tone. Sits at the crisp-and-cheerful end of the grid, parallel to welcoming and cheerful 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.

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.