Aqua (color)

Short description: Variation of cyan

Aqua
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#00FFFF
Source	HTML/CSS
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Brilliant bluish green

Aqua (Latin for "water") is a variation of the color cyan. The normalized color coordinates for the two web colors named aqua and cyan are identical. It was one of the three secondary colors of the RGB color model used on computer and television displays. In the HSV color wheel aqua is precisely halfway between blue and green. However, aqua is not the same as the primary subtractive color named process cyan used in printing.

Aqua colored sea waters, Thailand

The words "aqua" and "cyan" are used interchangeably in computer graphics, and especially web design, to refer to the additive secondary color "cyan". Both colors are made exactly the same way on a computer screen, by combining blue and green light at equal and full intensity on a black screen. Traditionally, that color, defined as #00FFFF in hex, or (0,255,255) in RGB. The #00FFFF color code is called "cyan" in the RGB color but the X11 color names introduced the alternative name "aqua" for #00FFFF in 1987. Later, W3C popularized the name by using it in the named color palette of HTML 3.2 specifications.

Pale aqua

Pale Aqua
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#BED3E5
Source	ISCC-NBS
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Very pale blue

Displayed in the right-hand column is the color pale aqua.

See also

• Color of water
• Lists of colors