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Inspiration in the color teal.

Learn the history and meaning of the color teal, one of the newest colors named.

Design with teal

Get inspired with teal design templates.

Teal was recorded as a color in 1917, but its history is as rich as its meaning.

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What is the meaning of teal color?

Picture the warm ocean waves in Baja California, made of that color that isn’t quite blue and isn’t quite green. The water brings in the cool side of summer. It also serves as the perfect example of the color teal. Teal was actually a bird before it was a color. The word “teal” was adopted as a color in 1917. Teal color, however, has existed as long as the ocean. 

Teal color combines the calming properties of blue with the revitalizing qualities of green. Named after the Eurasian teal duck, this color offers multiple meanings.

The history of teal color.

Teal was first a symbol of status.

Blue pigment was historically hard to produce. Green was abundant in nature, but it was difficult to create dyes and pigments that would not fade. Because both blue and green pigment were needed to make teal, the color teal was considered a color of elevated status. In Pontormo’s Carmignano Visitation (c. 1528), Mary’s teal robes contrast strikingly with the robes of three other women. This painting depicts when Mary was pregnant with Jesus.

Teal is a color honored in both church and state.

Teal color offers an earthly contrast to the skies and clouds above. With its mix of blue and green, the color teal has been used throughout history for the domes of mosques, churches, and state buildings. Look no further than New York City with the Statue of Liberty celebrated in teal, too. The connection here is that teal is symbolic of where the divine meets earth.

During the Renaissance, pigments for paints and textiles became more varied.

Until the Renaissance, mixing substances to create pigments and dyes caused an ill-famed suspicion of alchemy. Only during the Renaissance did this suspicion fade, which gave way to the development of new synthetic pigments. Teal became more popular once synthetic blues and greens were produced and gained in popularity over time. By the 1980s, teal was one of the first colors used to create web pages.

The color teal across different cultures.

The word “teal” (the color) was first recorded in English in 1917.

A teal is a freshwater duck known for a striking blue-green mark on its head. In the early 20th century, teal was adopted as the name of the color that the bird sports. The color teal was present before it took that name, of course. It seems as though giving teal a name brought it to the forefront of popular colors after that. Teal color had a boom in interior design in the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1990s teal was one of the most popular colors in professional sports teams.

Teal color has a symbolic meaning that stems from its psychological effects.

Teal’s psychological effects are simultaneously calming and revitalizing, which makes the history of the teal color’s significance no surprise. The color teal is especially significant for Tibetan monks. Teal represents the infinity of the sea and sky. For the Ancient Egyptians, teal was considered the color of truth and faith.

Teal has become a bold version of blue used in web design, cartoons, and even cancer awareness.

The color teal was one of the first (and few) colors used for the earliest web pages designed after 1987. Not long after, many cartoons used teal in their illustration, sometimes to extravagant levels. Rugrats was one popular animated series that featured teal as a principal color. The color teal has also been adopted as the color for ovarian cancer awareness.