On the RGB color wheel, "azure" (hexadecimal #0080FF) is defined as the color at 210 degrees, i.e., the hue halfway between blue and cyan. In the RGB color model, used to create all the colors on a television or computer screen, azure is created by adding a little green light to blue light. The complementary color of azure is orange.
In the X11 color system which became a standard for early web colors, azure is depicted as a pale cyan or whitish cyan rather than a shade of azure.
In an artistic context, this color could also be called azure mist or cyan mist.
Variations of azure
In this section, the term shade is used in its technical sense as used in color theory, meaning a blueish color mixed with black or dark gray. The colors arranged in order of their value (brightness) (V in the HSV code), the brighter colors toward the top and the darker colors toward the bottom.
The first recorded use of sky blue as a color name in English was in 1728 in the Cyclopædia of Ephraim Chambers.[8] Prior to the Chambers reference, the color had first been used in 1585 in a book by Nicolas de Nicolay where he stated "the tulbant[clarification needed] of the merchant must be skie coloured".[9][10]
The first use of Capri as a color name in English was in 1920.[12]
The color Capri in general is named for the azure-cyan color of the Mediterranean Sea around the island of Capri off Italy, the site of several villas belonging to the Roman EmperorTiberius, including his imperial residence in his later years, the Villa Jovis. Specifically, the color Capri is named after the color of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri[13] as it appears on a bright sunny day. Today the island of Capri is a resort island popular with tourists.
The name deep sky blue for this color did not come into use until the promulgation of the X11 color list in 1987.
Blue Grotto waters showing their distinctive azure colour
The name Capri is still used for this color as well as the name deep sky blue.
The first recorded use of cerulean as a color name in English was in 1590.[14]
The word is probably derived from the Latin word caeruleus, "dark blue, blue, or blue-green", which in turn probably derives from caelulum, diminutive of caelum, "heaven, sky".[15]
The color name jordy blue dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.
Columbia blue is a medium light tone of azure named after Columbia University. The typical Columbia blue is defined by Pantone Columbia Blue (PANTONE 290).[16]
The color name Picton blue dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.[17] Many of Resene's shades of blue and cyan are named after places in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds, where the town of Picton is located.
The color true blue is a deep tone of azure that is the color of the uniforms of the sports teams of UCLA. It is also one of the shades of blue used by the Los Angeles Chargers though they use the name powder blue.
Displayed at right is the color air force blue, also known as RAF blue. This is the tone of air force blue used by the Royal Air Force, the first air force to choose an "air force blue" color by which to identify itself, in 1920.
The color "air force blue" is a medium tone of azure since it has a hue code of 204 which is a hue code between 195 and 225, signifying a tone of azure.
Steel blue is a grayish tone of azure that resembles the color blue steel, i.e., steel which has been subjected to bluing in order to protect it from rust.
The first recorded use of steel blue as a color name in English was in 1817.[29]
The web colorlight blue is part of the X11 color system, with a hue code of 194. This color is closer to cyan than to blue. Variations of this color are known as sky blue, baby blue, or angel blue.
The first recorded use of "light blue" as a color term in English is in the year 1915.[32]
The hues of the Munsell color system, at varying values, and maximum chroma to stay in the sRGB gamut
The color defined as blue in the Munsell color system (Munsell 5B) is shown at right. The Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions: hue, value (lightness), and chroma (color purity), spaced uniformly (according to the logarithmic scale which governs human perception) in three dimensions in the Munsell color solid, which is shaped like an elongated oval at an angle. In order for all the colors to be spaced uniformly, it was found necessary to use a color wheel with five primary colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Munsell can only be displayed approximately on a computer screen, as these spectral colors have been adjusted to fit into the sRGB gamut. In the 21st century, this hue is classified as an intermediate between azure and cyan.
Spanish blue is the color that is called Azul (the Spanish word for "blue") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm. It is a shade of azure.[citation needed]
Celtic blue is a shade of blue, also known as glas celtig in Welsh, or gorm ceilteach in both the Irish language and in Scottish Gaelic. Julius Caesar reported (in Commentarii de Bello Gallico) that the Britanni used to colour their bodies blue with vitrum, a word that means primarily "glass", but also the domestic name for the "woad" (Isatis tinctoria), besides the Gaulish loanword glastum (from Proto-Celtic *glastos "green"). The connection seems to be that both glass and the woad are "water-like" (lat. vitrum is from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- "water-like").
Penn Blue is one of the official colors of the University of Pennsylvania, along with Penn Red. While the school colors were defined by 1910,[43] university history points to earlier times when the colors may have been chosen, including a possible visit by George Washington to the University, where students used the color of his tunic to determine school colors or a track meet where Penn athletes declared that they would wear the colors "of the teams we beat," which would be those of both Harvard University and Yale University.[44] Originally defined as the colors used on the American flag, the colors have since deviated.[43]
Resolution blue is a vivid blue color. The color name dates back to at least 2001, and came into wider use when the Resene Paints colors were used as one of the sources for the Xona Games Color List.[45] Many of Resene's shades of blue and cyan are named after places in New Zealand's Marlborough Sounds, where Resolution Bay is located.
^On colour plate 33 (page 89) of the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color by Maerz and Paul, the colours on the right side of colour plate 33 from top to bottom represent the most highly saturated colours on the color wheel from cyan to azure, and the colours on the bottom of colour plate 33 from right to left represent the most highly saturated colours on the colour wheel from azure to blue. The colour sample that represents azure is colour sample L12 on Plate 33 on Page 89. See reference to Azure on Page 190 in the index. See also discussion of the color azure, Page 149.
^The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called baby blue in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color baby blue is displayed on page 93, Plate 35, Color Sample E2.
^ abMaerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190; Color Sample of Baby Blue: Page 93 Plate 35 Color Sample E2
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 204; Color Sample of Sky Blue: Page 89 Plate 33 Color Sample E6
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Color Sample of Capri: Page 93 Plate 35 Color Sample L7; The color Capri is shown as lying halfway between Cyan and Azure.
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 191
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 152 Discussion of the color Capri
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190; Color Sample of Cerulean: Page 89 Plate 33 Color Sample E6
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190
^The color displayed in this color box matches the color called baby blue in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color baby blue is displayed on page 93, Plate 35, Color Sample E2.
^The sRGB values are taken by converting the NCS color 2060-B using the “NCS Navigator” tool at the NCS website.
^Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guía de coloraciones (Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guide to Colorations) Madrid: H. Blume. ISBN84-89840-31-8
Color coordinates
