Teal sits between green and blue, darker than the bright cyan of a screen.
In our paint model, the stand-in cyan is the single paint closest to teal, with our green next. The table shows which second paint brings each one closer.
CSS teal is a dark cyan: the green and blue lamps of a screen at the same low level, with red off. Other CSS teal-like colors are listed for comparison.
In paint
Cyan with black comes closest in our paint model, because teal is mostly a darker cyan. Green with cyan is next. Blue with green in equal parts lands on a darker, greener teal-like mix, not on the CSS teal.
Closest two-paint mixes
- += 55% Cyan + 45% Black #217583 · ΔE 7.9 from teal
- += 30% Green + 70% Cyan #00988F · ΔE 9.1 from teal
- += 15% Orange + 85% Cyan #009B9E · ΔE 9.7 from teal
- += 15% Yellow + 85% Cyan #009F96 · ΔE 11.2 from teal
- += 25% Yellow + 75% Blue #1E6557 · ΔE 11.5 from teal
Equal parts
- += Cyan + Black #246C76 · ΔE 9.0 from teal
- += Green + Cyan #0D9261 · ΔE 17.3 from teal
- += Blue + Green #21674E · ΔE 14.2 from teal
ΔE is the CIEDE2000 color difference between the mix and teal. Zero means the same color; the smaller the number, the closer the mix.
In light
A screen shows teal with the green and blue lamps at the same level, kept low, and the red lamp off. Raise both lamps together and the color brightens toward cyan.
The three lamps at these levels give #008181. Levels are the amount of light each lamp gives out, which is not the same scale as the 0–255 numbers in a color code; the method page shows the conversion.
Wheel pairings
On the painter's wheel the opposite of teal is a dark reddish brown. The OKLCH wheel gives a muted rose-red instead, so the two wheels disagree about how strong the contrast should be.
| Rule | Painter's wheel | OKLCH wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Complementary +180° | #802000 2.07:1 | #9E585E 1.10:1 |
| Analogous -30° +30° | #008000 1.08:1#000080 3.35:1 | #308062 1.00:1#207A98 1.02:1 |
| Triadic +120° +240° | #800055 2.15:1#806000 1.23:1 | #845E95 1.10:1#8F672A 1.06:1 |
| Split-complementary +150° +210° | #800000 2.29:1#804000 1.66:1 | #96597C 1.10:1#9C5D40 1.09:1 |
Teal mixed with each paint
Start from teal (#008080) and add one of our ten stand-in paints. Shares are by amount, in our paint model.
| Add | 75% teal + 25% | 50% teal + 50% | 25% teal + 75% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | #35616D | #473E49 | #673538 |
| Yellow | #00905B | #3CB640 | #8AD32E |
| Blue | #007A81 | #006388 | #124897 |
| Orange | #0F845D | #418C3B | #7F912C |
| Green | #008171 | #0A8353 | #238543 |
| Violet | #107681 | #255582 | #373783 |
| Magenta | #306181 | #443C7F | #632F7C |
| Cyan | #008385 | #008D9E | #0096BD |
| White | #119292 | #43BFBE | #8EE6E3 |
| Black | #0A7979 | #1A5A59 | #1A2E2E |
Named teals in CSS
| CSS name | Swatch | Code | ΔE from this page's teal |
|---|---|---|---|
| teal | #008080 | 0.0 | |
| darkcyan | #008B8B | 4.0 | |
| lightseagreen | #20B2AA | 16.6 |
Paint results come from a pigment model and our ten stand-in paints, not from real tubes, which vary by brand and pigment. Try any pair in the color mixer, or read how each swatch is worked out.