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cyan · cool

#52dfdc

a balanced, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Medium Turquoise

Token name suggestion: True Teal

RGB
82, 223, 220
HSL
179°, 69%, 60%
CMYK
63, 0, 1, 13
Luminance
0.5974

#52dfdc is a balanced vivid cyan, 179° on the wheel and 87/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.95:1). As text it scores 1.62:1 on white — use #18807E instead. Nearest name is Medium Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(179 69% 60%)rgb(82 223 220)Base step 500AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #52dfdc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#52dfdc
Hue
179°
cyan
Saturation
69%
vivid
Lightness
60%
balanced
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5974
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
87/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
12.95:1
Closest name
Medium Turquoise
ΔE2000 3.5
Chroma
39.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.828
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 11.8
Web-safe
#66CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue179° of 360°
Saturation69%
Lightness60%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #52dfdc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool87% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red3%
Green88%
Blue9%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#52dfdc
HEX (8-digit)#52dfdcff
RGBrgb(82, 223, 220)
RGBArgba(82, 223, 220, 1)
HSLhsl(179, 69%, 60%)
HSV / HSBhsv(179, 63%, 87%)
HWBhwb(179 32% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(63%, 0%, 1%, 13%)
LABlab(81.7 -37.9 -9.7)
LCHlch(81.7 39.1 194.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.828 0.119 193.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(42.78, 59.73, 76.97)
Decimal5431260
Display P3color(display-p3 0.322 0.875 0.863)
Web-safe#66CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #52dfdc;
background-color: #52dfdc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #52dfdc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#52dfdc] bg-[#52dfdc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #52dfdc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.322, green: 0.875, blue: 0.863)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.322, green: 0.875, blue: 0.863, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#52DFDC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF52DFDC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF52DFDC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(220, 223, 82)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(82, 223, 220)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(82, 223, 220)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 82, 223, 220)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3216f, 0.8745f, 0.8627f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{82,223,220}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #52dfdc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #52dfdc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#146C6A, #D3EEEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #52dfdc h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F3FBFB;
  --brand-100: #E7F8F8;
  --brand-200: #CAF2F1;
  --brand-300: #A0EDEC;
  --brand-400: #71E5E2;
  --brand-500: #52dfdc;
  --brand-600: #26CFCB;
  --brand-700: #20ACA9;
  --brand-800: #198A87;
  --brand-900: #166462;
  --brand-950: #0E3E3D;
  --brand: #52dfdc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EDEC;
  --brand-hover: #34D9D6;
  --brand-pressed: #24C5C2;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F3FBFB',
        100: '#E7F8F8',
        200: '#CAF2F1',
        300: '#A0EDEC',
        400: '#71E5E2',
        500: '#52dfdc',
        600: '#26CFCB',
        700: '#20ACA9',
        800: '#198A87',
        900: '#166462',
        950: '#0E3E3D',
        DEFAULT: '#52dfdc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F3FBFB,
  '100': #E7F8F8,
  '200': #CAF2F1,
  '300': #A0EDEC,
  '400': #71E5E2,
  '500': #52dfdc,
  '600': #26CFCB,
  '700': #20ACA9,
  '800': #198A87,
  '900': #166462,
  '950': #0E3E3D,
);
$brand-base: #52dfdc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F3FBFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E7F8F8", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CAF2F1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A0EDEC", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#71E5E2", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#52dfdc", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#26CFCB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#20ACA9", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#198A87", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#166462", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#0E3E3D", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #52dfdc · 12.95:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.62:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.95:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #52dfdc as text scores 1.62:1 on white and 12.95:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #146C6A at 3.83:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#18807E · 4.74:1
AA on white−30% L
#18807E
The quick fox
#126260 · 7.14:1
AAA on white−37% L
#126260
The quick fox
#52dfdc · 12.95:1
AA on blackalready passes
#52dfdc
The quick fox
#52dfdc · 12.95:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#52dfdc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #1EA3A0 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#52dfdc on white: 1.62:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#52dfdc on black: 12.95:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #52dfdc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #52dfdc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.62:1AaAa
Slate 501.55:1AaAa
Slate 1001.48:1AaAa
Slate 2001.32:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.58:1AaAa
Slate 5002.93:1AaAa
Slate 6004.67:1AaAa
Slate 7006.38:1AaAa
Slate 8009.02:1AaAa
Slate 90011.01:1AaAa
Black12.95:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #D2D4DC
deuteranopia · #BCC4DD
tritanopia · #00E5DE

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #52dfdc is pinned to step 500; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F3FBFB
#E7F8F8
#CAF2F1
#A0EDEC
#71E5E2
#52dfdc
#26CFCB
#20ACA9
#198A87
#166462
#0E3E3D
Base = 500Lightest = 50 · #F3FBFBDarkest = 950 · #0E3E3DText step on white = 900
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.030 193.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.048 193.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.072 193.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.093 193.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.110 193.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.119 193.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.119 193.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.112 193.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.100 193.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.084 193.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.066 193.1);
}

Colors that work with #52dfdc

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDEC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B99
Captions on the surface
Accent#E34E76
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#146C6A
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E9FBFB
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#34D9D6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#24C5C2
Two steps down
Disabled#C6DBDA
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5AEBE8
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #52dfdc

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #146C6A
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #1EA3A0

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight40/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#DF5255
Analogous left#52DF95
Analogous right#529CDF
Split-complement 1#DF529C
Split-complement 2#DF9552
Triadic 1#DC52DF
Triadic 2#DFDC52
Tetradic#9552DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°179°

#52dfdc sits at 179°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red32.2%
Green87.5%
Blue86.3%
R · 0–255
82
0x52
G · 0–255
223
0xdf
B · 0–255
220
0xdc

CMYK percentages

Cyan63.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow1.3%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 77%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#52dfdc text on a black background

contrast 12.95:1

Card sample

#52dfdc text on a white background

contrast 1.62:1

Card sample

#52dfdc on grey

1.48:1

#52dfdc on its own surface

1.54:1

#52dfdc on its dark surface

9.90:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #52dfdc;
Background color
Panel with #52dfdc background
background-color: #52dfdc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #52dfdc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(82, 223, 220, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(82, 223, 220, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #52dfdc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #52dfdc, #5284DF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #52dfdc, #5261DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #52dfdc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #52dfdc;
caret-color: #52dfdc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #52dfdc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E9FBFB;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #52dfdc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#52dfdc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #52dfdc over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(82, 223, 220, 0.5)
rgb(82 223 220 / 50%)
#52dfdc80
hsl(179 69% 60% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #52dfdc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#52dfdc1a#EEFCFC
20%#52dfdc33#DCF9F8
40%#52dfdc66#BAF2F1
60%#52dfdc99#97ECEA
80%#52dfdccc#75E5E3

Gradients from #52dfdc

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #86E9E6, #52dfdc 45%, #146C6A);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #52dfdc, #3864DA);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #52dfdc, #DF5255);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #9FEDEC 0%, #52dfdc 45%, #146C6A 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #7DE7A7 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6CA0E4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #146C6A 0%, transparent 65%), #52dfdc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #52dfdc

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#52dfdc in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 12.95:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#52dfdc, answered

What color is #52dfdc?

#52dfdc is a balanced vivid cyan, closest to Medium Turquoise (ΔE2000 3.5). It sits at 179° on the hue wheel with 69% saturation and 60% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #52dfdc?

rgb(82, 223, 220) — 82 red, 223 green and 220 blue out of 255, or 32.2% / 87.5% / 86.3% by channel.

What is #52dfdc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(179, 69%, 60%) and hsv(179, 63%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #52dfdc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5974 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 12.95:1.

Should I use black or white text on #52dfdc?

Black. It scores 12.95:1 against #52dfdc, versus 1.62:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #52dfdc accessible on a white background?

#52dfdc on white scores 1.62:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #18807E to reach 4.5:1, or #126260 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #52dfdc?

#DF5255 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF529C and #DF9552, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #52dfdc?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EDEC for borders, #4B9B99 for secondary text, #E34E76 as an accent and #146C6A for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #52DF95 and #529CDF stays calm, while #DF5255 is the loudest partner.

What is #52dfdc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(63%, 0%, 1%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #52dfdc warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 87 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #52DFA8; nudged cooler, #50B6E1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #52dfdc?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 11.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #52dfdc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #52dfdc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#52dfdc] or text-[#52dfdc], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #52dfdc with 50% opacity?

rgba(82, 223, 220, 0.5), or #52dfdc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A9EFEE; over black, #29706E.

Is #52dfdc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66CCCC, ΔE2000 5.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #52dfdc mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #52dfdc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #86E9E6, #52dfdc 45%, #146C6A). For more colour, a short hue run to #3864DA keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #52dfdc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #52dfdc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.