ENGLISH
REFERENCE

teal

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈtiɫ// UK //tˈiːl// teal Archaic

adj. having a dark blue-green color. It is named after a small duck that has a patch of this color on its head.

adj. of a dark greenish-blue color, similar to the plumage of the common teal duck. Often used attributively to describe fabrics, paints, or digital interfaces.


SIMPLE

She wore a beautiful teal dress to the wedding.

CONTEXTUAL

The designer chose a teal accent wall to provide a sophisticated contrast against the light oak furniture.

COMPLEX

The artist blended deep forest greens with cerulean blues to achieve the exact shade of teal required for the ocean's depths in the mural.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English tele, probably from an unrecorded Old English tǣle, cognate with West Frisian tjilling (“teal”), Middle Dutch teling (“teal”) (modern Dutch taling), Middle Low German telink, from Proto-Germanic tailijaz, of unknown ultimate origin, with no cognates outside of Germanic. As the name of a shade of dark greenish-blue like the color patterns on the fowl's head and wings, it is attested from 1923. The Australian political sense derives from the colour teal being intermediate between green (signifying environmentalism) and blue (signifying the conservative Australian Liberal Party).

Usage

Primarily used as an adjective to describe color; when used as a noun, it refers to the color itself or the species of duck.

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