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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Viridescent Word™.

Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Viridescent Words

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Viridescent Words™,Not Viridescent Words™
Palped,Banana
Fancy,Explode
Remedial,Powerful
Enrage,Fleet
Email,Bound
Stamina,Glide
Hemiacetal,Tense
Matin,Relax
Violet,Antiquity
Aphoristic,Swell
Lathe,Burst
Soubriquet,Drawn
Indinavir,Disappear
Trove,Rush
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dcfyj
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1 Answers1

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Answer with the help of @Will, @M Oehm, @Glorfindel and me (Maria Deleva) :

Viridescent words contain shades of green plus one excess letter.
Extra viridescent words contain at least two shades of green.
Palped - apple
Fancy - cyan
Remedial - emerald, lime
Email -> lime
Hemiacetal - malachite, lime, teal
Enrage - green
Stamina - mantis, mint
Matin - mint
Violet - olive
Aphoristic - pistachio
Lathe - teal
Soubriquet = turquoise
Indinavir = viridian
Trove - vert (@RadoslavHristov)

Maria Ivanova
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    aphoristic = pistachio? – Will Sep 08 '16 at 13:34
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    Remedial also contains a green type of gem (leave the i out). – Glorfindel Sep 08 '16 at 13:34
  • Hemiacetal contains a mineral too, btw – Will Sep 08 '16 at 13:35
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    And in each case it seems you only need to remove 1 letter (except for the 'extra' ones). – Glorfindel Sep 08 '16 at 13:35
  • I think all words have just one excess letter that isn't green. – M Oehm Sep 08 '16 at 13:36
  • Fancy => cyan, Palped => apple – Glorfindel Sep 08 '16 at 13:37
  • also lathe = teal, soubriquet = turquoise, indinavir = viridian – Will Sep 08 '16 at 13:39
  • Hemiacetal contains malachite, as Will has already found (but not spelled) out. – M Oehm Sep 08 '16 at 13:44
  • I think these are not just something green but names for shades of green, although I'm not sure whether mantis is a name for a colour. – M Oehm Sep 08 '16 at 13:47
  • trove - vert (+ o) -> green, as a heraldic tincture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vert_(heraldry) – rhsquared Sep 08 '16 at 13:56
  • @MOehm mantis – dcfyj Sep 08 '16 at 13:58
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    In what world is cyan a shade of green? Cyan is clearly blue. Turquoise too. – GentlePurpleRain Sep 08 '16 at 14:04
  • @GentlePurpleRain I wasn't really paying that close attention when I grabbed these – dcfyj Sep 08 '16 at 14:06
  • Because it has a pear? But it doesn't follow the pattern one letter plus anagram of shade of green. – M Oehm Sep 08 '16 at 14:12
  • @MariaDeleva Still doesn't follow the anagram of a shade of green + 1 letter – Lyrion Sep 08 '16 at 15:11
  • Viridescentliterally means having a greenish hue… Hence I would say banana is the only word on the list at its definition as well, as they can be green. I don't really understand your definition of the term. Where did you come up with this meaning? – gracey209 Sep 08 '16 at 18:51
  • @gracey209: This is a puzzle, not an exercise in taxonomy. Someone thinks of a pattern in words that others must guess. As a convention, such words are called "X Word™", where X is supposed to give a hint towards the pattern. The pattern is usually about the words themselves, i.e. the letters, the letter forms and so on, and not about their meanings. – M Oehm Sep 08 '16 at 18:55
  • Oh, Thank you @MariaDeleva I understand now! I didn't realize the site was self-made puzzles. That's why I was sort of at a loss on what the relationship is supposed to be. Maybe there was an earlier question that explained what the formula was... like you just did. Thanks! – gracey209 Sep 09 '16 at 00:59