Violescent

Word of the Day for Thursday, January 3, 2013

Violescent \vahy-uh-LES-uhnt\, adjective:

Tending to a violet colour: a violescent twilight sky.

Scriabin's prelude is dark in colour, violescent, like moiré unfurling in the evening wind.
-- Gabriele D'Annunzio, Notturno

The portrait was vile, a dirty grey colour with large violescent patches.
-- Emile Zola, Thérèse Raquin

Violescent is clearly related to the more common word violet. The suffix -escent means "beginning to show" as in the word luminescent.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com