Aqua is a tone of the color cyan

Cyan

Cyan from , transliterated: kýanos, meaning "dark blue substance") may be used as the name of any of a number of colors in the blue/green range 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...

 (from Greek: κύανoς (transliterated: kýanos), meaning "blue") which is identical to the color electric cyan, one of the three secondary colors (subtractive primary colors) of the HSV color wheel, along with magenta

Magenta

Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...

 and yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

. It is precisely halfway between green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

 and blue

Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

 on the color wheel. It should not be confused with the color process cyan used in printing, which is a deeper tone of cyan; this color is also known as deep aqua.

In traditional print media, "aqua" is short for aquamarine

Aquamarine (color)

Aquamarine is a color that is a pale bright tint of spring green toned toward cyan. It is named after the mineral aquamarine, a gemstone mainly found in granite rocks...

, a distinct color from aqua. The words "aqua" and "cyan" are used interchangeably in computer graphics

Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

, and especially web design

Web design

Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...

, to refer to the subtractive primary color "electric cyan". Traditionally that color, defined as #00FFFF in hex, or (0,255,255) in RGB, is called "cyan", but X11 color names

X11 color names

In computing, on the X Window System, X11 color names are represented in a simple text file, which maps certain strings to RGB color values. It is shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in <X11root>/lib/X11/rgb.txt.It is not known who originally compiled...

 introduced the alternative name "aqua". Later, W3C popularized the name by using it in the named color palette of HTML

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

 3.2 specifications.

Pale aqua

Displayed at right is the color pale aqua.

The source of this color is: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Pale Aqua (color sample #184).

Aqua in human culture

Transportation Planning

Transportation planning

Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities .-Models and Sustainability :...

• The Aqua Line is a name used for a number of different transit lines around the world. Most notably, it is the favored color proposed for the Los Angeles Metro Expo Line.