Spirited Faun Goldenrod

An adjectival form of spirit — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as animate and characterful. Spirited orange, spirited green: the implication is saturation combined with personality, a color that feels like it has agency. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside lively and vibrant.

Latin Faunus, Roman-half-goat-rural-deity. As a color modifier, faun implies a half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian quality, the visual register of Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun hand-half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun-and-Pan faun-and-half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian surfaces under Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun-and-Pan Lupercalia-and-Arcadia-and-pipes-of-Pan pastoral-Arcadian-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to satyr and dryad 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.