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Teal

physical science Maturity 5-7

Teal is a pretty color.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
It is a mix of blue and green. A small bird has this color on its head.
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
You can see it in ice too. Do you like this color?

46 words

Teal is a dark color.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
It looks like a mix of blue and green. A small bird has this color on its head.
Teal male (54310739035).jpg
Teal male (54310739035).jpg
You can make this color by mixing blue with black. Some flags use this color too.
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
The flag of Sri Lanka has a teal stripe. You might even see this color in ice. It is a very cool color to see.

74 words

Teal is a dark cyan color. Cyan is a bright blue-green. You can make teal by mixing cyan with black or gray. On computer screens, teal is made by making cyan less bright.

Teal male (54310739035).jpg
Teal male (54310739035).jpg

The name comes from a bird. It is called the Eurasian teal. This duck has a teal stripe on its head.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
The color on the bird's head is a structural color. This means the color changes if you look at it from different angles. You might even see teal in an iceberg.
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg

Many things use this color. The flag of Sri Lanka has a teal stripe.

Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
This stripe represents Sri Lankan Muslims. Many sports teams use teal for their uniforms. In the 1990s, teal became a very popular fad color in North America. Some people also use teal ribbons to show support for ovarian cancer awareness.

158 words

Teal is a dark cyan color that sits between blue and green. It is a very special shade used in many different ways. You can create this color by mixing cyan with black or gray. On a computer screen, it works a bit differently. The screen makes teal by making cyan less bright. It is one of the first 16 web colors used in coding.

Teal male (54310739035).jpg
Teal male (54310739035).jpg

This color comes from a real animal in nature. The Eurasian teal is a type of duck. The male duck has a bright stripe on its head. This stripe is a structural color. This means the color looks different depending on the angle of the light. You might even see this same shade inside an iceberg.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg

People have used the name teal for a long time. The first time it was used as a color name in English was in 1917. The word comes from the Middle English word tele. This word is similar to words used in Dutch and Middle Low German. In 1927, people started using the name teal blue. This is a medium shade with more blue in it.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg

Many places and groups use teal today. The flag of Sri Lanka has a teal stripe to represent Muslims. The flag of Hungary and the flag of Mozambique also use teal stripes. In India, the Kochi Metro uses teal as its official color. Some people use teal ribbons to show support for ovarian cancer awareness. In Australia, teal is used by independent political candidates.

Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg

Teal is also very popular in sports and movies. Many teams in North America used teal for uniforms in the 1990s. The Charlotte Hornets and the San Jose Sharks use teal colors. Filmmakers often use a look called orange and teal. This helps make the colors in a movie stand out. You might even see teal in your favorite gummy bears.

Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg

338 words

Teal is a dark shade of cyan, a color that sits between blue and green. It is classified as a tertiary color, meaning it is a color created by mixing primary and secondary colors. This specific hue is significant because it appears in nature, technology, and various human cultures. In digital spaces, teal is a fundamental color. It is one of the first 16 HTML/CSS web colors used in computer coding. This makes it a standard building block for how we see colors on the internet.

Teal male (54310739035).jpg
Teal male (54310739035).jpg

To understand how teal is created, we can look at different mixing methods. In physical art, you can make teal by mixing cyan with black or gray to darken it. On computer screens and televisions, the process uses the RGB model. This model uses red, green, and blue light to create all colors. To produce teal on a screen, the brightness of cyan is reduced to about one half. This reduction in light intensity results in the darker, saturated look we recognize as teal.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg

There are several distinct variations of this color family. Teal blue is a medium tone that contains more blue than standard teal. This specific variation was recorded in English in 1927 and comes from the Plochere Color System. This system was created in 1948 to help interior designers choose colors for rooms. Another variation is teal green, which is a darker shade with more green. Teal green is described as a dark bluish-green that is stronger than colors like pine tree. There is also deep sea green, which is a specific paint color made by the company Benjamin Moore.

The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg

The name teal comes from a specific bird called the Eurasian teal, or *Anas crecca*. The male of this species has a bright stripe on its head. This stripe is a structural color, which means the color is not caused by pigment alone. Instead, the color changes based on the angle of the light hitting it. The history of the word itself goes back much further than the color name. The first English use of "teal" as a color was in 1917. However, the word for the duck comes from the Middle English word *tele*, which is related to the Dutch *taling*.

Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg

Teal has a massive presence in global culture and national symbols. It appears on the flags of Hungary and Mozambique as a greenish-teal stripe. On the flag of Sri Lanka, the teal stripe represents the country's Muslim population. In the world of transportation, the Kochi Metro in India uses teal as its official color. In New Zealand, the airline Tasman Empire Airways Limited, or TEAL, used the color for its planes and bags. This airline was the forerunner to the modern Air New Zealand.

In North America, teal became a major fashion fad during the 1990s. This popularity spread heavily into professional sports. The Charlotte Hornets of the NBA and the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL use teal as a primary color. The San Jose Sharks in the NHL use a variation called Deep Pacific Teal. Even in film, teal is important. Many modern movies use an "orange and teal" look. This technique uses color grading to make the two colors stand out against each other.

Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg

Finally, teal serves important roles in social and political systems. In Australia, "teal independents" refers to a group of political candidates from the 2022 election. They are named after the color because it blends the blue of one party with the green of another. Teal is also used for medical awareness, specifically for ovarian cancer. People wear teal ribbons or hats to bring attention to the disease. In some religious groups, like the Hermit Intercessors of the Lamb, teal symbolizes a connection between heaven and earth.

645 words
🖼️ Images & Media (4)
File:Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
Eurasian teal (cropped).jpg
File:Teal male (54310739035).jpg
Teal male (54310739035).jpg
File:The underwater surface structures of an iceberg in Svalbard.jpg
The underwater surface structures of an...
File:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg
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