Lively Mirth Goldenrod

An adjectival form of life — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues that read as energetic. Lively coral, lively chartreuse: the implication is saturation combined with optical liveliness, the slight visual restlessness of a color that feels animated. Sits at the bright-bucket center.

Old English myrgth, joy-or-pleasure. As a color modifier, mirth implies a hearty-and-laughing-and-festive quality, the visual register of Twelfth-Night-and-Mardi-Gras-mirth hand-hearty-and-laughing-and-festive Twelfth-Night-and-Mardi-Gras-and-Saturnalia mirthed-and-hearty-and-laughing-and-festive surfaces under Twelfth-Night-and-Mardi-Gras-and-Saturnalia banquet-hall-and-festival-square candlelit-revelry-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to glee and merry in usage.

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.