The color cyan, a greenish-blue, has notable

tints and shades In color theory, a tint is a mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, while a shade is a mixture with black, which increases darkness. Both processes affect the resulting color mixture's relative saturation. A tone is produc ...

. It is one of the subtractive primary colors along with magenta, and yellow. The first recorded use of ''cyan blue'' as a color name was in 1879 ("cyan blue" being the name used for "cyan" in the 19th century).

Cyan in printing and the web colors cyan and aqua

Process cyan

color printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into thre ...

, the shade of cyan called process cyan or pigment cyan is one of the three primary pigment colors which, along with

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

and

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...

, constitute the three subtractive primary colors of pigment. (The secondary colors of pigment are blue, green, and red.) As such, the CMYK printing process was invented in the 1890s, when newspapers began to publish color comic strips. Process cyan is not an

RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three addi ...

color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure cyan ink. A typical formulation of ''process cyan'' is shown in the color box at right. The source of the color shown at right is the color cyan that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the tintbooks for CMYK printing.

The web color cyan (aqua)

The web color cyan, shown at the right, is one of the three secondary colors in the RGB color model, used for creating all colors on a computer or television display by mixing various combinations of red, green and blue light. The X11 name for this color is cyan; the HTML name for the same color is

aqua Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to: Arts * Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color Business * Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...

. They are both composed of the same mixture of blue and green light, and are exactly the same color.

Additional variations of cyan

Azure (web)

In an artistic context, this color could also be called azure mist or cyan mist. Despite its name, this color is a lighter shade of cyan rather than a shade of azure.

Blue-green

Blue-green has been a

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

color since 1930.

Caribbean Current

Displayed at right is the color Caribbean Current.

Celeste

At right is displayed the color celeste.

Bleu celeste Bleu celeste (, "sky blue") is a rarely occurring and non-standard tincture in heraldry (not being one of the seven main colours or metals or the three ''staynard colours''). This tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste. I ...

("sky blue") is a rarely occurring

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

in heraldry (not being one of the seven main colors or metals or the three "staynard colors"). This tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste. It is depicted in a lighter shade than the range of shades of the more traditional tincture azure, which is the standard blue used in heraldry. It has been used rarely since the 17th century, gaining popularity after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Charleston green

''Charleston green'' is an extremely dark shade of cyan. The name ''Charleston green'' originated after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, approximately 1865, when during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

, it was widely used to paint homes in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dark cyan

At right is displayed the web color dark cyan.

Electric blue

Electric blue is a

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

close to cyan that is a representation of the color of

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

, an

electric spark An electric spark is an abrupt electrical discharge that occurs when a sufficiently high electric field creates an ionized, electrically conductive channel through a normally-insulating medium, often air or other gases or gas mixtures. Michael F ...

, and argon signs; it is named after the ionized air glow produced during electrical discharges. The first recorded use of ''electric blue'' as a color name in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

was in 1884.

Keppel

At right is displayed the color keppel. The color name ''keppel'' has been in use since 2001, when it was promulgated as one of the colors on th
Xona.com Color List

Light cyan

At right is displayed the web color light cyan.

Light sea green

At right is displayed the web color light sea green.

Midnight green

Midnight green (sometimes also called Eagle green) is a dark cyan. It (or more specifically #004C54) has been the primary team color for the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL)'s

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

since 1996.

Moonstone

Displayed at right is the color moonstone. It was formulated by

in 1994 as part of their Gem Tones range of crayons. It is a slightly dark shade of cyan that is reminiscent of the bluish-green glow of some moonstones.

Myrtle green

''Myrtle green'', also called ''myrtle'', is a color which is a representation of the color of the leaves of the myrtle plant. The first recorded use of ''myrtle green'' as a color name in English was in 1835. ''Myrtle'' is the official designation of the green stripes on Waterloo

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

club's shirts, the green of

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

rugby league club, the green (along with the

cardinal red Cardinal is a vivid red, which may get its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals (although the color worn by cardinals is scarlet). The cardinal bird also takes its name from the cardinal bishops. The first recorded use of ''ca ...

) stripes of the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

and the green of the blazers, sports kit and scarf of St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow. It is also one of the school colors of

Lane Technical College Prep High School Lane Tech College Prep High School (often shortened to Lane Tech, full name Albert Grannis Lane Technical College Preparatory High School), is a public 4-year selective enrollment magnet high school located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on ...

in Chicago, the other being

old gold Old gold is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow, generally on the darker side of this range. The first recorded use of ''old gold'' as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact ...

. The

baggy green The baggy green is a cricket cap of dark myrtle green colour, which has been worn by Australian Test cricketers since around the turn of the twentieth century. The cap was not originally baggy as evidenced by photographs of early players. The ...

, the

cricket cap A cricket cap is a type of soft cap, often made from felt, that is a traditional form of headwear for players of the game of cricket, regardless of age or gender. It is usually a tight-fitting skullcap, usually made of six or eight sections, ...

worn by Australian

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

ers since around the turn of the twentieth century, is ''myrtle green'' in color.

Peacock blue

The color peacock blue is a deep greenish blue, from the iridescent color of a

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

. As a color between blue and cyan, peacock blue has been used as the process-blue ink in

four-color printing The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refer ...

. Kelly Moore Paint's "color of the year" for 2019 was their peacock blue.

Pine green

''Pine green'' is a rich shade of spring green that resembles the color of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

trees. It is an official Crayola color (since 1903). Pine green is a rich dark shade of cyan that resembles the color of

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ac ...

s. It is an official Crayola color (since 1903) that is this exact shade in the Crayola crayon, but in the markers, it is known as '' crocodile green''. The color ''pine green'' is a representation of the average color of the leaves of the trees of a

coniferous forest Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

. The color ''pine green'' was originally known as ''pine tree''. The first recorded use of ''pine tree'' as a color name in English was in 1923. The first recorded use of ''pine tree'' as a color name in English was in 1923.

Robin egg blue

The color robin egg blue is displayed at right. The first recorded use of ''robin's egg blue'' as a color name in

was in 1873.

Skobeloff

At right is displayed the color Skobeloff green. The first recorded use of ''Skobeloff green'' as a color name in English was in 1912.

Sky blue (Crayola)

Displayed at right is the color medium sky blue. This is the color that is called ''sky blue'' in

crayons. This color was formulated by Crayola in 1958. "Sky blue" appears in the 32, 48, 64, 96 and 120 packs of crayons.

Teal

At right is displayed the web color teal. The first recorded use of ''teal'' as a color name in English was in 1917.

Tiffany Blue

Tiffany Blue is the

colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

name for the light medium

robin egg blue Robin egg blue, also called eggshell blue, is a shade of cyan (bluish-green color), approximating the shade of the eggs laid by the American robin. The first recorded use of ''robin egg blue'' as a color name in English language, English was in ...

associated with Tiffany & Co., the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

company. The color was used on the cover of Tiffany's Blue Book, first published in 1845. Since then Tiffany & Co. has used the color extensively on promotional materials, including boxes and bags. The Tiffany Blue color is protected as a color trademark by Tiffany & Co. in some jurisdictions including the U.S.

Turquoise

At right is displayed the X11 color named turquoise. ''Turquoise'' is the name of a greenish blue color, based on the gem of the same name. The word ''turquoise'' comes from the French for Turkish, as the gem was originally imported from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

.http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/turquoise.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy The first recorded use of ''turquoise'' as a color name in

was in 1573. Perhaps owing to sharing its name with a

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

, turquoise is currently a more common term in English than other cyan-like colors.

Verdigris

Verdigris is the common name for a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...

obtained through the application of acetic acid to

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

plates or the natural patina formed when copper,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. The name ''verdigris'' comes from the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

''vertegrez'', from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

''verte grez'', an alteration of ''vert-de-Grèce'' ("green of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

"). Used as a pigment in paintings and other art objects (as green color) since ancient Greece, it was originally made by hanging copper plates over hot vinegar in a sealed pot until a green crust formed on the copper. The vivid green color of copper(II) acetate made this form of verdigris a much used

. Until the 19th century, verdigris was the most vibrant green pigment available and was frequently used in painting. Verdigris was sometimes used to illustrate cyan colors in early color wheels.https://archive.org/details/principlesscien00bensgoog ''Principles in the Science of Colour Concisely Stated'' by William Benson, 1868

Zomp

Displayed at right is the color zomp. ''Zomp'' is one of the colors on th
Resene Color List
a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color was formulated in 2007.

References

{{Color topics Shades of cyan Shades of cyan