Velvety Gleam Crimson

An adjectival form of velvet, used since the eighteenth century for colors that read as if they had the matte light-absorbing quality of velvet. Implies high saturation combined with a non-glossy surface — the matte richness of a deep wine in a fabric rather than in a glass. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside plush and lush.

Old English glǣm, brightness-or-shine. As a color modifier, gleam implies a low-and-glancing-and-bright quality, the visual register of polished-armor-and-river-water-gleam hand-polished-and-glancing-and-bright polished-armor-and-river-water-and-blade-edge gleamed-and-polished-and-glancing surfaces under polished-armor-and-river-water blade-edge-and-helm-and-shield medieval-tournament-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to glint and sheen in usage.

From the Old Spanish cremesin, itself from the Arabic qirmiz — the kermes scale insect, dried and ground into a brilliant carmine dye prized in the medieval Mediterranean. For centuries the most expensive red on a draper's shelf, reserved for cardinals, kings, and the cloth that gave English the word crimson. Cooler than scarlet, deeper than rose; the color of pomegranate seeds and a serious occasion.