Anchored Shag violet

The past participle of anchor, used since the late nineteenth century as a metaphor for secured in place. As a color word, anchored implies a deep saturated tone that grounds a palette — the dark blues, deep greens, and browns that hold a composition together. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside solid.

Old Norse skagg, beard / rough-hair. As a color modifier, shag implies a rough-and-shaggy-hair-or-pile quality, the visual register of Mid-Century-Modern-and-1970s-shag-rug hand-tufted-and-rough-and-shaggy wool-and-yarn-and-pile Mid-Century-Modern-and-1970s shag-rug surfaces under Mid-Century-Modern-and-1970s shag-rug interior-decoration light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to fuzz and fluff 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.