Irisated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Showing luminous colors that shimmer and change like those of a rainbow when viewed from different angles
2. Exhibiting a play of rainbow-like hues that shift and gleam depending on the angle of light and observation
3. Displaying prismatic colors that flash and shift like those of a rainbow across the surface

Etymology: Iridescent shimmer is the idea behind "irisated," which is built from "iris," the Latin-derived name for the coloured part of the eye and also for the rainbow-like goddess-messenger of Greek myth, and the English suffix "-ated," which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "furnished with" or "showing" something. An iris, in this sense, is the flower and the eye alike, since both take their name from the Greek word for the rainbow. The word thus describes a surface marked with rainbow colours, the way a soap bubble or a pigeon's neck shows bands of shifting hue. It follows a French model, "irisé," and a closely related form, "irisate," which English writers borrowed or paralleled as they needed a word for this optical effect.