Cyan (from
Greek κυανός, meaning "blue") may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the
spectrum. In reference to the
visible spectrum cyan is used to refer to the
color obtained by mixing equal amounts of
green and
blue light or the removal of red from white light. As such, cyan is the
complement of
red in
RGB and
CMYK color systems: cyan
pigments absorb red light.
''Cyan'' is also called
aqua. Cyan used to be called ''blue-green''.The name "cyan" for printer's cyan has been in use since
1889.
[ Merriam Webster's College Dictionary, 10th Edition, 1994, see under entry "cyan". ]
Some shades of color close to cyan in the cyan color range are
baby blue,
turquoise and
aquamarine.
Electric cyan (web color aqua)
color|
title | Cyan (additive secondary)|
hex |
The vivid cyan that is seen on an
electronic display device (shown at right) is also referred to as
electric cyan to distinguish it from the less vivid turquoise-like ''process cyan'' used in
color printing (shown below). (Note: while the color is defined by definite
RGB values, the display of the color will vary depending on the
absolute color space used and the nature of the physical display device, e.g. computer monitor, and if this page is printed it is likely that the color shown will be far from representative.)
The
web color aqua is an alias for electric cyan, i.e., it is exactly the same color.
To reproduce electric cyan in inks, it is necessary to add some white ink to the printer's cyan below, so when it is reproduced in printing, it is not a primary subtractive color. It is called
aqua (a name in use since
1598) because it is a color commonly associated with
water, such as the appearance of the water at a tropical beach.
[ Maerz and Paul ''The Dictionary of Color'' 1930 (see under Aqua in Index, Page 189)] .
Process cyan (pigment cyan) (printer's cyan)
color|
title | Cyan (subtractive primary)|
hex |
Cyan is also one of the common inks used in
four-color printing, along with
magenta,
yellow, and
black; this set of colors is referred to as
CMYK.
While both the additive secondary and the subtractive primary are called ''cyan'', they can be substantially different from one another. Cyan printing ink can be more saturated or less saturated than the RGB secondary cyan, depending on what
RGB color space and ink are considered.
Process cyan is not an
RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure cyan ink. A typical formulation of ''process cyan'' is shown in the color box at right. The source of the color shown at right is the color cyan that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the following website offering tintbooks for CMYK printing:
http://www.tintbook.com/.