Teal
A dark cyan named after the Eurasian teal bird’s blue-green head stripe
Teal is a dark cyan colour, named after the Eurasian teal duck, which has a blue-green stripe on its head. It sits between blue and green, and is made by mixing cyan with black or grey. Teal became widely used in web design and sports uniforms, and appears in several national flags and awareness campaigns.
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- Named after the Eurasian teal duck’s blue-green head stripe
- First recorded as a colour name in 1917
- Standard web colour with hex code #008080
- Used in the flags of Sri Lanka and Mozambique
- Symbolises ovarian cancer awareness and Australian political independents
What colour is Teal?
Teal is a dark shade of cyan, sitting between blue and green. Its appearance is similar to the blue-green stripe seen on the head of the Eurasian teal duck. Teal is deeper and less bright than pure cyan, and can be made by adding black or grey to cyan. It is a standard web colour, with the hex code #008080, and is often used to describe a range of blue-green tones.
Where does Teal come from?
The name comes from the Eurasian teal, a duck with a distinctive blue-green head marking. The word 'teal' was first used for the colour in English in 1917, and is related to Middle English and Dutch words for the duck. Teal became popular in the 1990s, especially in North America, where it was used by many sports teams.
How Teal is defined
Teal is not a pigment but a colour value. On screens, it is created by reducing the brightness of cyan by half in the RGB colour model. In paint or dye, it can be mixed by combining blue and green, or by adding black or grey to cyan.
Where Teal is used
Teal is used in web and digital design as one of the original 16 HTML/CSS colours. It appears in sports uniforms, such as those of the San Jose Sharks and Charlotte Hornets, and in the flags of Sri Lanka and Mozambique. Teal is also used in rapid transit branding, airline livery, and as an awareness ribbon for ovarian cancer.
What Teal means
In Australia, teal is associated with independent political candidates who campaign for climate action and integrity. In the United States, teal ribbons are worn to raise awareness for ovarian cancer. For the Hermit Intercessors of the Lamb, a Christian group in Nebraska, a teal scapular symbolised intercession between heaven and earth.
Turquoise around the world
What the turquoise and cyan family means from country to country.
The old colour word qing covers green, blue and the shades between. In the five-element system it belongs to wood, the east and spring.
Nature and renewalCalmSource: Blue–green distinction in languageTurquoise, firuzeh in Persian, has been mined near Nishapur for thousands of years. It is worn against the evil eye, and its colour covers the domes of mosques in Isfahan.
Protection and healingSacred and holyAweSource: TurquoiseIn the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mary wears a blue-green cloak covered in stars. Turquoise was precious to the Aztecs, who used it in mosaic masks.
Sacred and holyAweSource: Our Lady of GuadalupeThe English word turquoise comes from the French for Turkish, because the stone reached Europe through Ottoman lands. Tiles from Iznik made the colour a mark of Ottoman mosques.
Royalty and powerSource: TurquoiseThe mosques and tombs of Samarkand are faced with turquoise and deep blue tiles. The three great madrasas of the Registan square and their ribbed turquoise domes are the best known.
Sacred and holyAweSource: RegistanShades and relatives of Teal
Related shades include teal blue, which is more blue-toned, and teal green, which is darker and greener. Deep sea green is a commercial paint colour close to teal. Variants are used by different sports teams and in crayons, sometimes under other names like aqua, jade, or Northwest Green.
Colours that go with Teal
Harmonies are worked out from the value #008080. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Teal
What colour is teal?
Teal is a dark cyan shade that sits between blue and green. It is deeper than pure cyan and can be made by mixing cyan with black or grey.
Where does the name teal come from?
The name comes from the Eurasian teal, a duck with a blue-green stripe on its head. The word was first used for the colour in English in 1917.
How is teal made or defined?
On screens, teal is made by reducing the brightness of cyan by half in the RGB model. In paint, it is mixed from blue and green, or by adding black or grey to cyan.
Where is teal used?
Teal is used in web design, sports uniforms, national flags, rapid transit branding, and as an awareness ribbon for ovarian cancer.
What does teal represent?
In Australia, teal stands for independent political candidates focused on climate action. In the US, it is used for ovarian cancer awareness. For a Christian group in Nebraska, it symbolised intercession between heaven and earth.
Good reading and sources
- The rise of the teal independents and the battle for WentworthThe Guardian, Article
- BBC Inside OutBBC, Article
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Teal", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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