Etched Icicle Lazuli
Etched Icicle Lazuli (#50EBED) 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 (181°, 81%, 62%) 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.
Etymology
German ätzen, to etch — past-participle of etch. As a color modifier, etched implies a clear-and-precisely-incised quality, the crisp color of Rembrandt-and-Dürer hand-pulled etching-print fine-line incised-image. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to engraved and inscribed in usage.
Old English īsgicel, ice-and-icicle. As a color modifier, icicle implies a hanging-ice-and-eaves-frozen-drip quality, the visual register of Alpine-eaves-and-Norwegian-stave-icicle hand-hanging-ice-and-eaves-frozen-drip Alpine-eaves-and-Norwegian-stave-icicle-and-Cairngorm-ledge icicle-and-hanging-ice-and-eaves-frozen-drip surfaces under Alpine-eaves-and-Norwegian-stave-icicle-and-Cairngorm-ledge Alpine-Dolomites-and-Norwegian-stave-church frozen-drip-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to floe and berg in usage.
Passerina amoena, the lazuli bunting — a North American songbird whose males display saturated deep-blue plumage with white wing bars and chestnut breasts. Named for the gemstone (lapis lazuli) the bird's plumage resembles. The color refers to a male lazuli bunting in breeding plumage: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.