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Translucent Chervil Kingfisher

#12a5b0
Notes

Translucent Chervil Kingfisher (#12A5B0) is a true cyan with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (184°, 81%, 38%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#12a5b0
RGB
rgb(18, 165, 176)
HSL
hsl(184, 81%, 38%)
HWB
hwb(184 7% 31%)
OKLCH
oklch(65.9% 0.110 203.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2970 0.6374 0.6819)
HSV
hsv(184, 90%, 69%)
LAB
lab(61.80% -30.52 -15.66)
LCH
lch(61.80% 34.31 207.17)
CMYK
cmyk(90%, 6%, 0%, 31%)

Etymology

Translucent
adjective

Latin trans-lūcēre, to shine through — present-participle of translucere. As a color modifier, translucent implies a clear-and-light-passing quality where the hue allows partial light-transmission through its visual surface. Sits at the crisp-and-clear end of the grid, parallel to pellucid and vitreous in usage.

Chervil
modifier

Latin chaerephylla, delicate-French-fines-herbes. As a color modifier, chervil implies a delicate-French-fines-herbes-and-anise-leaf quality, the visual register of French-fines-herbes-and-Lyon-bistro-chervil hand-delicate-French-fines-herbes-and-anise-leaf French-fines-herbes-and-Lyon-bistro-chervil-and-spring-vinaigrette chervil-and-delicate-French-fines-herbes surfaces under French-fines-herbes-and-Lyon-bistro-chervil-and-spring-vinaigrette Lyon-bouchon-and-Loire-Valley-spring spring-bistro-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to chive and dill in usage.

Kingfisher
noun

The family Alcedinidae — particularly Alcedo atthis, the European common kingfisher whose iridescent turquoise-blue plumage gives the color its name. The color refers to a male European kingfisher's wing: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the iridescent satin finish of structurally colored feathers.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#12a5b0
Original
#979eb1
Protanopia
#838fb0
Deuteranopia
#00aca8
Tritanopia
#878787
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.99:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
7.03:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##12A5B0
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2970 0.6374 0.6819)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.110

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

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