Watchet

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈwæt͡ʃɪt/

Definitions

1. A descriptor for a light blue-green shade that evokes images of tranquil waters and sky elements in nature
2. This term represents a delicate hue that reflects the softness associated with certain natural scenes and materials
3. A term used to denote a pale bluish-green color reminiscent of serene waters and clear skies in various natural settings

Etymology: Watchet is a light blue-green shade, but its name began as the name of a berry. Middle English "wachet" and "waget" referred to the whortleberry, a small dark-blue fruit related to the bilberry. The colour was named for the fruit's hue, and the word is linked to French "vaciet", meaning the same berry, and ultimately to Latin "vaccinium", the term for blueberry. The Latin root is the same one that gives English the word "vaccinium" in botany, so a plant name and a paint-chart name share a distant ancestor. The move from fruit to colour is the centrepiece here: the word stopped naming something you could eat and started naming something you could see. Its meaning narrowed from a specific berry to a shade, and the berry's dusky blue became the reference point for a whole range of paler, greener tones.