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Color palette for turquoise
Short answer
Turquoise is #40E0D0: the CSS color named turquoise, defined by the W3C, written rgb(64, 224, 208) or hsl(174, 72%, 56%). Its complement is #E04050; analogous colors are #40E080 and #40A0E0; a triad adds #D040E0 and #E0D040.
#40E0D0 · rgb(64, 224, 208) · hsl(174, 72%, 56%) · contrast 1.64:1 on white, 12.79:1 on black
Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Tetradic (rectangle)
Square
Tints (toward white)
Shades (toward black)
CSS variables for the analogous palette
:root {
--color-1: #40e080;
--color-2: #40e0d0;
--color-3: #40a0e0;
}Nothing is uploaded. Click a color to copy its hex code.
Key takeaways
- Turquoise is #40E0D0, rgb(64, 224, 208), hsl(174, 72%, 56%), CIELAB 81.3, -44.1, -4.0.
- Contrast: 1.6:1 on white and 12.8:1 on black. Black text on turquoise passes the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1.
- Its complement is #E04050; the analogous colors are #40E080 and #40A0E0; the triad is #40E0D0, #D040E0, #E0D040.
- 0 of the 9 tints and 5 of the 9 shades have at least 4.5:1 on a white background; the first shade that does is #207068.
- Photographs rich in turquoise gave #7AD6C2, #47BA99, #259674, #59BFAF, #3D9E92, #327D67; the nearest of their colors to #40E0D0 was 8.6 CIEDE2000 units away.
- For people with deuteranopia the closest pair in the triad is 24.4 apart, against 35.8 for typical vision.
Measured: a palette for turquoise, from photographs
On white it has a contrast ratio of 1.6:1 (fails the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text) and on black 12.8:1. A palette extracted from three photographs rich in turquoise (44%, 30% and 24% of their pixels near the hue) came out as #7AD6C2, #47BA99, #259674, #59BFAF, #3D9E92, #327D67.
We searched Wikimedia Commons for turquoise subjects and kept photographs under Creative Commons or public domain licenses. Of 12 candidates we kept the three with the largest share of pixels within 25 degrees of the hue of the color, with saturation of at least 35% and lightness between 30% and 80%. The tool's own palette code (k-means in CIELAB, no random numbers) found five colors in each photograph. The six colors in the table below come from only the pixels inside the color window, from the three photographs, so they are six shades and neighbors of turquoise rather than the whole picture.
| Color | Share | Nearest CSS name | Contrast on white | Contrast on black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #7AD6C2 | 22.9% | near mediumaquamarine | 1.72:1 | 12.23:1 |
| #47BA99 | 22.3% | near mediumaquamarine | 2.40:1 | 8.75:1 |
| #259674 | 19.2% | near seagreen | 3.69:1 | 5.69:1 |
| #59BFAF | 15.7% | near lightseagreen | 2.21:1 | 9.50:1 |
| #3D9E92 | 10.8% | near lightseagreen | 3.23:1 | 6.50:1 |
| #327D67 | 9.1% | near seagreen | 4.92:1 | 4.26:1 |
Turquoise appears here as near mediumaquamarine, near mediumaquamarine, near seagreen, near lightseagreen, near lightseagreen, near seagreen. The photo palette is a starting point: colors from a photograph are rarely pure, and the table shows how each performs as text on white and black.
Measured: the photographs
| Photograph | Photographer, license | Pixels near the hue | Five colors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea coral, clear turquoise water, tropical | Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0 | 44% | #279472 27%, #56BD9C 25%, #0E6950 23%, #02352D 17%, #A0DCC6 8% |
| Lagoon in Bacuit Bay, El Nido, Palawan | Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0 | 30% | #61BBAD 32%, #131D15 27%, #37443A 21%, #5A7D6F 13%, #B1B3B3 8% |
| Underwater coral, crystal clear turquoise | Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0 | 24% | #21684F 24%, #46956D 24%, #0A463B 22%, #6ECEAD 19%, #022F2E 11% |
The photographs are credited with their Wikimedia Commons license. The extracted lists are the exact tool output.
Colors that go with turquoise
| Harmony | Colors | Closest pair, typical vision | Protanopia | Deuteranopia | Tritanopia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complementary | #40E0D0, #E04050 | 69.5 | 35.6 | 33.0 | 74.6 |
| Analogous | #40E080, #40E0D0, #40A0E0 | 18.6 | 20.8 | 21.4 | 3.9 |
| Triadic | #40E0D0, #D040E0, #E0D040 | 35.8 | 26.9 | 24.4 | 29.0 |
| Split complementary | #40E0D0, #E040A0, #E08040 | 40.4 | 29.2 | 16.4 | 10.3 |
| Tetradic (rectangle) | #40E0D0, #4050E0, #E04050, #E0D040 | 35.8 | 26.9 | 23.0 | 32.1 |
| Square | #40E0D0, #8040E0, #E04050, #A0E040 | 29.1 | 27.3 | 21.6 | 13.8 |
The complement, #E04050, sits opposite #40E0D0 on the color wheel (hue + 180 degrees); Wikipedia's color scheme article describes analogous schemes as neighbors on the wheel and a triadic scheme as colors 120 and 240 degrees apart. Under protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia the colors are simulated with the Machado model at full severity; a closest pair below about 10 is hard to tell apart.
Turquoise in numbers
| Notation | Value |
|---|---|
| Hex | #40E0D0 |
| RGB | rgb(64, 224, 208) |
| HSL | hsl(174.0, 72.1%, 56.5%) |
| CMYK (simple conversion) | 71%, 0%, 7%, 12% |
| CIELAB (D65) | 81.3, -44.1, -4.0 |
| Nearest CSS color name | turquoise #40E0D0 (exact) |
| Contrast on white | 1.64:1 |
| Contrast on black | 12.79:1 |
Tints, shades and accessible text
| Step | Tint (toward white) | Contrast on white | Shade (toward black) | Contrast on white |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | #53E3D5 | 1.58:1 | #3ACABB | 2.03:1 |
| 20% | #66E6D9 | 1.51:1 | #33B3A6 | 2.58:1 |
| 30% | #79E9DE | 1.45:1 | #2D9D92 | 3.31:1 |
| 40% | #8CECE3 | 1.38:1 | #26867D | 4.39:1 |
| 50% | #A0F0E8 | 1.30:1 | #207068 | 5.87:1 |
| 60% | #B3F3EC | 1.24:1 | #1A5A53 | 7.98:1 |
| 70% | #C6F6F1 | 1.18:1 | #13433E | 11.05:1 |
| 80% | #D9F9F6 | 1.12:1 | #0D2D2A | 14.73:1 |
| 90% | #ECFCFA | 1.06:1 | #061615 | 18.53:1 |
0 tints and 5 shades reach 4.5:1 against white. The WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text; criterion 1.4.6 asks for 7:1 for the enhanced level.
Use it in CSS
:root { --turquoise-1: #7ad6c2; --turquoise-2: #47ba99; --turquoise-3: #259674; --turquoise-4: #59bfaf; --turquoise-5: #3d9e92; --turquoise-6: #327d67; }
The complement and analogous colors of #40E0D0: #E04050, #40E080, #40A0E0.
Free tools:Color palette generatorPalette from an imageImage to textCompress an image
Check the contrast before you use it for text
- Turquoise #40E0D0 on white: 1.64:1; on black: 12.79:1.
- The darkest shade in the table, #061615, reaches 18.53:1 on white.
- Large text (at least 18 point, or 14 point bold) needs 3:1; normal text needs 4.5:1; the enhanced level needs 7:1.
- Do not use color as the only way to tell things apart: about 1 in 12 men have a color vision deficiency.
How the numbers were made
The hex value of turquoise is the W3C CSS named color. Harmonies rotate the hue in HSL and keep saturation and lightness. Contrast follows the WCAG 2 definition with relative luminance. Color differences use CIEDE2000, which Wikipedia notes is designed so that a difference of 1.0 stands for a just noticeable difference. Color blindness is simulated with the matrices of Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes (2009) at severity 1.0. Palette extraction: pixels are grouped into 32 levels per channel and clustered with k-means in CIELAB; the same picture always gives the same palette. The accuracy test on pictures of known colors is on the palette generator page.
Questions people ask
What is the hex code for turquoise?
Turquoise is #40E0D0 (the W3C CSS named color), rgb(64, 224, 208).
What color goes with turquoise?
The complement of #40E0D0 is #E04050. Analogous colors are #40E080 and #40A0E0; a triad is #40E0D0, #D040E0, #E0D040.
Is #40E0D0 accessible for text?
On white it has 1.64:1 and on black 12.79:1. The WCAG AA minimum for normal text is 4.5:1, so black text on #40E0D0 passes.
Can people with color blindness tell the turquoise palette apart?
For the six colors of the photo palette, the closest pair is 5.9 apart for typical vision and 6.8 for deuteranopia (CIEDE2000; below about 10 is hard).
How was the palette made?
The tool found the dominant colors of the photographs with k-means clustering in CIELAB. It runs in your browser; you can do the same with your own picture on the palette from image page.
Can I use these colors commercially?
Colors themselves are not licensed. The photographs used to find them keep their Creative Commons licenses, shown in the table.
Can I get a palette from my own photo?
Yes. Use the palette from an image tool; nothing is uploaded.
How many colors should a palette have?
Many designs use five: one dominant, one or two supporting, one accent and a neutral. The tool lets you choose 3 to 10 when you extract from a picture.
What is the difference between tints and shades?
A tint mixes the color with white and a shade mixes it with black. The table shows nine of each in steps of 10%.
Related
Sources and how we checked
- W3C: CSS Color Module Level 4 (named colors) (read 2026-10-10)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) (read 2026-10-10)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.6, Contrast (Enhanced) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: Color scheme (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: Color difference (CIEDE2000) (read 2026-10-10)
- Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes: A physiologically-based model for simulation of color vision deficiency (2009) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikimedia Commons (the photographs, under the licenses shown) (read 2026-10-10)
Reviewed October 10, 2026. The palettes were found with the tool's own code from Creative Commons photographs; contrast, harmonies and color differences are computed. The files and results are in data/seo/hub/evidence/2026-10-10/palette.