Wellbred Horn Ruby

Old English wel-brēd, well-bred — past-participle of breed, sharing root with brood (offspring). As a color modifier, wellbred implies a saturated-and-elegant-and-formal quality, the deep-rich color of Edwardian-period finishing-school-and-debutante-Court English-aristocratic livery. Sits at the bold-and-elegant end of the grid, parallel to highborn and patrician.

Old English horn, horn. As a color modifier, horn implies a translucent-keratin quality, the visual register of cattle-horn-and-deer-antler hand-shaped-and-polished translucent-keratin button-and-comb-and-knife-handle horn-and-antler surfaces under translucent-horn-and-antler hand-polished light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to bone and pith in usage.

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.