Gaudy Gloss Lime

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.

Old Norse glosi, glossy-shine. As a color modifier, gloss implies a polished-and-reflective-shine quality, the visual register of polished-and-glossy-leather-and-lacquer hand-polished-and-glossy lacquer-and-shellac-and-varnish polished-and-glossy-shine surfaces under polished-and-glossy-lacquer workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to sheen and shine in usage.

Citrus aurantiifolia and its key-lime cousin — small, intensely sour green citrus carried by Arab traders from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean by the eleventh century, then to the Caribbean with Columbus. The color refers to the skin of a fully ripe Persian lime: a saturated, slightly yellow-shifted green with the matte finish of citrus rind. Cooler than chartreuse, sharper than sage, with the same chlorophyll the fruit loses if left to ripen to yellow.