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Frenetic Quell Turquoise

#40dfcd
Notes

Frenetic Quell Turquoise (#40DFCD) is a true teal with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (173°, 71%, 56%) 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
#40dfcd
RGB
rgb(64, 223, 205)
HSL
hsl(173, 71%, 56%)
HWB
hwb(173 25% 13%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.9% 0.131 183.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4531 0.8624 0.8037)
HSV
hsv(173, 71%, 87%)
LAB
lab(80.89% -44.44 -2.99)
LCH
lch(80.89% 44.54 183.85)
CMYK
cmyk(71%, 0%, 8%, 13%)

Etymology

Frenetic
adjective

Greek phrenitikós, frenzied — adjectival suffix -ic, derived from phrēn (mind). As a color modifier, frenetic implies a saturated-and-frenzied-and-active quality, the bright color of Hyper-Color-and-Memphis-Group 1980s-design saturated-and-active visual-rhythm. Sits at the bright-and-active end of the grid, parallel to frantic and manic in usage.

Quell
modifier

Old English cwellan, to-kill-or-suppress. As a color modifier, quell implies a stilled-and-suppressed-and-pacified quality, the visual register of vesper-bell-and-curfew-quell hand-stilled-and-pacified-and-suppressed vesper-bell-and-curfew-bell-and-night-watch quelled-and-stilled-and-suppressed surfaces under vesper-bell-and-curfew-bell-and-night-watch hush-and-stillness-and-quiet bell-tower-and-monastery light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to hush and lull 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.

#40dfcd
Original
#d4d2cc
Protanopia
#bec2cf
Deuteranopia
#00e4d9
Tritanopia
#bcbcbc
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
1.66:1
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
12.65:1

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
##40DFCD
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4531 0.8624 0.8037)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.131

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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