Turquoise#00FFD3, a cool brilliant aqua

At a glanceTurquoise is #00FFD3, oklch(89.2% 0.170 174.1), a cool brilliant aqua, fully saturated at the sRGB gamut edge for its hue. Pair it with a warm bold red #CA4964 as an accent, a cool light blue #66B7E7 for harmony, and a cool faint teal #D2E0DC as a neutral. Try it as a screen-first brand or accent color, and it takes black text at AA contrast. It shifts further on press than a run can hold, though, so Rhapsody would keep it off print-led brand work.
Color codes

Turquoise in RGB, HSL, OKLCH & more

Ready to ship: every line pastes straight into your codebase, and the whole file copies at once.

00ffd3.css
:root { /* how your code speaks it */ /* how your eyes measure it */ /* how the lab measures it, D65 2° */}/* tailwind v4 */

ART is Rhapsody's perceptual model. How ART works

The name

Why is it called Turquoise?

Turquoise's meaning, origin, and pronunciation, with sources.

Anchor: A32 · one of the 72 anchor hues of ART

Origin: Old French: "Turkish (stone)," though the stone is Persian

Meaning: The gemstone; named for its trade route, not its source

TUR-koyz · /ˈtɜːrkɔɪz/

Old French (pierre) turquoise, "Turkish stone" → Middle French → English turquoise.

Except that the great historic mines were at Nishapur, in the Persian province of Khorasan. Persian speakers called the stone fīrūza, a name carrying associations of victory and triumph. It merely crossed Turkey on its way west.

Europe named the stone after the last hands it passed through rather than the ground it came out of. That is exactly the pattern behind Tangerine, the Southeast Asian fruit named for a Moroccan port, and behind an older case still: copper, named for Cyprus, the island that shipped it.

It is one of the wheel's recurring lessons. Follow a color word backward and you usually find not the source but the middleman, standing at the dock, taking the credit.

Wiktionary s.v. turquoise (Nishapur); Khazeni, Sky Blue Stone (UC Press, 2014). Etymological dictionaries + scholarly sources. Audio: Commander Keane, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tints & shades

Shades of Turquoise, lighter and darker

For hover states, washed backgrounds, and dark surfaces that still read as #00FFD3. 13 steps, spaced evenly by eye, with the color itself sitting at its natural depth, turquoise-300.

Tints (light surfaces; dark text passes on every one)

Midtones (the color at full strength, for brand & accent work)

Shades (dark surfaces; light text passes on every one)

Rhapsody Palette

Most tools mix. Rhapsody measures.

Paste any color. The whole system comes back, contrast-checked before you see it.

Build your palette free

The window on the right was generated from #00FFD3, like this whole page.

Accessibility

Is Turquoise accessible? Contrast with white & black

Strong contrast makes your work readable by everyone, and meets the WCAG standard accessibility law points at. AA is the floor; AAA is the tier worth aiming for in body text. Black text on #00FFD3 clears WCAG AAA. Every strip below is one surface, and the marks are the steps that reach AAA on it.

Rows are text, columns are background · 66 of 210 pairings reach WCAG 2.2 AAA, shown here.

Rhapsody Palette

Ship the audit, not screenshots.

Run #00FFD3 against the colors you actually ship, every pairing and any target, and export it: exact ratios, the AA tier, APCA, in one file.

Get the full audit

The audit on the right was calibrated from #00FFD3, like this whole page.

Print

Turquoise in CMYK: one value for files, one per press

This color shifts further than a press run can hold, so expect a visible difference. The pairs below show where each standard lands.

In CMYK, #00FFD3 is . That is the value design tools and file formats use when no press is involved.

On press (what each standard prints)

CGATS21 CRPC1 (coldset news) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 14.8, 5.9× the 2.5 a run varies by

GRACoL 2013 Uncoated (CRPC3) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 15.4, 6.1× the 2.5 a run varies by

GRACoL 2013 (CRPC6) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 14.5, 5.8× the 2.5 a run varies by

PSO Coated v3 (FOGRA51) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 14.8, 5.9× the 2.5 a run varies by

Coated FOGRA39 shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 15.3, 6.1× the 2.5 a run varies by

Japan Color 2011 Coated shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 15.1, 6.0× the 2.5 a run varies by

APTEC Flexo Coated shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 16.8, 6.7× the 2.5 a run varies by

CGATS21 CRPC7 (extended gamut) shifts on press
on screenon press

shifts ΔE00 13.8, 5.5× the 2.5 a run varies by

Press values computed through the ICC characterization data each standard proofs against. Each CMYK above is the closest that standard can get.

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No surprises at the printer.

Run any color through the major press standards: FOGRA51, GRACoL, Japan Color, FOGRA39. It's coming soon. Create a free account and you'll get a note the moment it's live.

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The strip shows this page's tints and shades on screen, then through a standard GRACoL 2013 conversion.

The Turquoises

Colors similar to Turquoise

The gemstone; named for its trade route, not its source

Here are other colors similar to Turquoise along with accessible text pairings and whether or not they're print-safe. Explore The Aquas

VodaVoda#00FFE9black text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Bright AquaBright Aqua#0BF9EAblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Bright TurquoiseBright Turquoise#0FFEF9black text · AAA✕ shifts on press
KikorangiKikorangi#00FFFEblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Light AquaLight Aqua#8CFFDBblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Aqua MarineAqua Marine#2EE8BBblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Bright CyanBright Cyan#41FDFEblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Pale AquaPale Aqua#B8FFEBblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Pale CyanPale Cyan#B7FFFAblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Medium TurquoiseMedium Turquoise#48D1CCblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Eggshell BlueEggshell Blue#C4FFF7black text · AAAlighter than the paper
Light Light BlueLight Light Blue#CAFFFBblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Dark TurquoiseDark Turquoise#00CED1black text · AAA✕ shifts on press
Pale BluePale Blue#D0FEFEblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
IceIce#D6FFFAblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Really Light BlueReally Light Blue#D4FFFFblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Very Light BlueVery Light Blue#D5FFFFblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Very Pale BlueVery Pale Blue#D6FFFEblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Ice BlueIce Blue#D7FFFEblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Frosted MintFrosted Mint#DBFFF8black text · AAAlighter than the paper
Light CyanLight Cyan#E0FFFFblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico#3FC1AAblack text · AAA✕ shifts on press
JavaJava#1FC2C2black text · AAA✕ shifts on press
TranquilTranquil#E6FFFFblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
Clear DayClear Day#E9FFFDblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
DewDew#EAFFFEblack text · AAAlighter than the paper
TealishTealish#24BCA8black text · AAA! within tolerance
TopazTopaz#13BBAFblack text · AAA! within tolerance
Greeny BlueGreeny Blue#42B395black text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Light Sea GreenLight Sea Green#20B2AAblack text · AAA! within tolerance
KeppelKeppel#3AB09Eblack text · AAA✓ prints exactly
Persian GreenPersian Green#00A693black text · AA✓ prints exactly
NiagaraNiagara#06A189black text · AA✓ prints exactly
Blue/GreenBlue/Green#0F9B8Eblack text · AA✓ prints exactly
GossamerGossamer#069B81black text · AA✓ prints exactly
Pairings

Colors that go with Turquoise

The complementary color, straight across the wheel, is a warm vivid fuchsia #E55DC9. Rhapsody's pick is the split complement, just to one side of it, a livelier pair.

The accent is for the moments that need attention, the harmony for the ones that need calm; the neutral carries the text and surfaces in between.

Downloads

Take Turquoise with you

The work on this page doesn't stay here. Save a card and the color arrives in your file, your deck or your board already decided.

Turquoise color codes: hex #00FFD3, RGB, HSL, CMYK, and OKLCH, from Rhapsody
Paste it anywhere without coming back for it.
The full tonal scale of Turquoise, 13 steps from light to dark with every hex, from Rhapsody
Reach for the right depth instead of the one you have.
Turquoise paired with a warm bold red #CA4964, a cool light blue #66B7E7, a cool faint teal #D2E0DC: hex values and roles, from Rhapsody
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This page's whole theme is built from one color. Palette does the same for yours: every step calibrated, every pairing checked, press included.

Every color on this page was calibrated, not mixed.

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