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Effervescent Sour Turquoise

#27dad2
Notes

Effervescent Sour Turquoise (#27DAD2) is a true cyan with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (177°, 71%, 50%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. 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
#27dad2
RGB
rgb(39, 218, 210)
HSL
hsl(177, 71%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(177 15% 15%)
OKLCH
oklch(80.4% 0.133 190.0)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4116 0.8426 0.8198)
HSV
hsv(177, 82%, 85%)
LAB
lab(79.17% -43.38 -8.23)
LCH
lch(79.17% 44.15 190.75)
CMYK
cmyk(82%, 0%, 4%, 15%)

Etymology

Effervescent
adjective

Latin effervēscēns, boiling-out — present-participle of effervesce, sharing root with fervere (to boil). As a color modifier, effervescent implies a saturated-and-bubbling-and-active quality, the bright color of Champagne-and-Prosecco effervescent-wine carbonation-bubble-light reflection. Sits at the bright-and-effervescent end of the grid, parallel to fizzy and sparkling in usage.

Sour
modifier

Old English sūr, acid-or-fermented. As a color modifier, sour implies a fermented-and-puckered-and-acid quality, the visual register of sourdough-and-Bavarian-sauerkraut-sour hand-fermented-and-puckered-and-acid sourdough-and-Bavarian-sauerkraut-sour-and-Belgian-Lambic sour-and-fermented-and-puckered surfaces under sourdough-and-Bavarian-sauerkraut-sour-and-Belgian-Lambic San-Francisco-sourdough-and-Brussels-Lambic fermented-puckered-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to tart and tang in usage.

Turquoise
noun

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.

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.

#27dad2
Original
#cdced2
Protanopia
#b5bdd3
Deuteranopia
#00e0d7
Tritanopia
#b3b3b3
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
1.74:1
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
12.05:1

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
##27DAD2
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4116 0.8426 0.8198)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.133

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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