Shades of cyan


The color cyan, a greenish-blue, has notable tints and shades. It is one of the subtractive primary colors- cyan, magenta, and yellow.
The first recorded use of cyan blue as a color name was in 1879.

Cyan in printing and the web colors cyan and aqua

Process cyan

In color printing, the shade of cyan called process cyan or pigment cyan is one of the three primary pigment colors which, along with yellow and magenta, constitute the three subtractive primary colors of pigment. 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 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 magenta that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the following website offering 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. They are both composed of the same mixture of blue and green light, and are exactly the same color.

Additional variations of cyan

Aero blue

Aero blue is a fluorescent cyan color. Aero blue was used as rainshower in one of the Sharpie permanent markers but not as bright on the marker. However, there is no mechanism for showing fluorescence on a computer screen.

Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a shade of cyan toned towards green. It is named after the mineral aquamarine, a gemstone mainly found in granite rocks. Aquamarine is the birthstone for those born in March.
The first recorded use of aquamarine as a color name in English was in 1598.

Blue-green

Blue-green has been a Crayola color since 1930.

Caribbean Current

Displayed at right is the color Caribbean Current.

Celeste

At right is displayed the color celeste.
Bleu celeste is a rarely occurring tincture in heraldry. 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.

Cerulean

The first recorded use of cerulean as a color name in English was in 1590.
The word is probably derived from the Latin word caeruleus, "dark blue, blue, or blue-green", which in turn probably derives from caelulum, diminutive of caelum, "heaven, sky". This color hex triplet has also been designated as celadon blue, after the hue derived from glazing in some Chinese celadon earthenware.

Charleston green

Charleston green is an extremely dark shade of cyan. The color Charleston green originated after the American Civil War, approximately 1865, when during Reconstruction, 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 close to cyan that is a representation of the color of lightning, an electric spark, 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 was in 1884.

Green-blue

Green-blue was a Crayola color from 1958 to 1990.

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 the .

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 is a dark cyan.
players wearing the midnight-green uniforms in a game against Washington during the 2006 NFL season
It has been the primary team color for the National Football League 's Philadelphia Eagles since 1996.
In 2019, Apple added the color to the iPhone 11 Pro Series.

Moonstone

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

Opal

Displayed at right is the color opal.
It is a pale shade of cyan that is reminiscent of the color of an opal gemstone, although as with many gemstones, opals come in a wide variety of colors.

Pale cyan

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 English was in 1873.

Sky blue (Crayola)

Displayed at right is the color medium sky blue. This is the color that is called sky blue in Crayola 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 name for the light medium robin egg blue color associated with Tiffany & Co., the New York City jewelry 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.
stones
The first recorded use of turquoise as a color name in English was in 1573. Perhaps owing to sharing its name with a mineral, turquoise is currently a more common term in English than other cyan-like colors.

Verdigris

Verdigris is the common name for a green pigment obtained through the application of acetic acid to copper plates or the natural patina formed when copper, brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. The name verdigris comes from the Middle English vertegrez, from the Old French verte grez, an alteration of vert-de-Grèce. Used as a pigment in paintings and other art objects 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 acetate made this form of verdigris a much used pigment. 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.

Viridian

Viridian is a blue-green pigment, a hydrated chromium oxide, of medium saturation and relatively dark in value. It is composed more of green than blue. Specifically, it is a dark shade of spring green, the color between green and cyan on the color wheel, or, in paint, a tertiary blue–green color. Viridian takes its name from the Latin viridis, meaning "green".
The first recorded use of viridian as a color name in English was in the 1860s.

Cyan in human culture

See Cyan in human culture in the main article on Cyan.

Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel

If the visible spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, cyan appears midway between blue and green: