Decisive Sway Violet

From the Latin decidere, to cut off — used as a modifier for colors that read as firm and final. Decisive black, decisive red: the implication is that the color has settled on its position and won't drift. Sits in the bold-bucket corner alongside resolute, with a slightly sharper edge.

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.

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.