24123
I'm looking for the most natural-sounding way to express the general concept
of blue-green colours (such as cyan or teal) in Japanese. By "general
concept", I mean _all_ colours that are neither entirely blue nor entirely
green, in shades ranging from dark to light. Here are some examples, taken
from the [CSS3](http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/) specification:

  * ![7fffd4](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SqeLB.png) Aquamarine
  * ![00ffff](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VQZKv.png) Cyan
  * ![40e0d0](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G2iMX.png) Turquoise
  * ![008080](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YTrNs.png) Teal

After a bit of research, I've come up with four possibilities.

* * *

### 青緑 / あおみどり / aomidori

This seems to be the best option (it literally translates as "blue-green") but
I'm not sure whether or not it includes darker shades, such as teal.

**Suggested translations:**

  * Blue-green - [Wiktionary 1](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blue-green)
  * Cyan - [Wiktionary 2](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%89%B2#Japanese)
  * Turquoise - Collins English-Japanese Dictionary ([ISBN 0-00-719655-5](https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=!ISBN+0-00-719655-5))
  * Blue green - [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E9%9D%92%E7%B7%91)

* * *

### 水色 / みずいろ / mizuiro

Literally translates to "water-colour", but seems to lean more towards light
blue than general blue-green. Again, I'm not sure that this would include
darker blue-green shades such as teal.

**Suggested translations:**

  * Cyan - [Japanese SE](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/675/9212)
  * Light blue, Turquoise - [Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4%E8%89%B2)
  * Light blue - Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary ([ISBN 978-0-19-860748-9](https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=!ISBN+978-0-19-860748-9))
  * Light blue - [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E6%B0%B4%E8%89%B2)

* * *

### シアン / shian

Literally "Cyan", so almost certainly doesn't include darker shades, such as
teal. I couldn't find this in either of my (printed) dictionaries.

**Suggested translations:**

  * Cyan - [Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cyan)
  * Cyan - [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E3%82%B7%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3)

* * *

### ターコイズブルー / taakoizu buruu

Literally "Turquoise Blue", so (again) almost certainly doesn't cover darker
shades, such as teal, and (again) doesn't exist in either of my printed
dictionaries.

**Suggested translations:**

  * Turquoise - [Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turquoise)
  * Turquoise - [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B3%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BA%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC)

* * *

**tl;dr:** Which of the above (if any) is the most suitable translation for
general "blue-green" colours in Japanese?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T18:03:49.687
24120
2020-07-16T22:15:17.997
2017-04-13T12:43:44.863
-1
9212
question
word-choice colors
Is there a word that describes greenish-blue colours (of any shade)?
I personally would just stick with plain 青い. Dictionaries will probably call
it plain 'blue', and it does indeed lean more towards blue, but the point
where people stop using it and start saying 緑 is pretty far into the green.
The green light on traffic signals is typically called 青. Bananas can be
called 青 before they turn ripe.

Japanese is a pretty broad language to begin with, and on top of that, color
definitions will vary from person to person. This really is true for any
language- for example, where's the border between red and pink? Each person
will have a different answer based on their own experiences and mindset, so I
wouldn't worry about getting it precise anyway. If you really need to
emphasize that it's not exclusively blue, 青緑 would probably be okay, but if
you're looking for the most natural-sounding option then 青い would definitely
be the better choice, especially if you want to convey the "general concept".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T23:17:19.293
24122
2015-05-04T23:17:19.293
9749
24120
answer
The most generic would be 「[青緑色]{あおみどりいろ}」 or 「[青緑系]{あおみどりけい}の[色]{いろ}」--
especially the latter IMHO. It covers a wide range of tints and shades of
greenish-blues.

「[水色]{みずいろ}」 is just light blue with absolutely no green in it. It is the name
of one of the more common colors of crayon, so practically no native speakers
would imagine a different color upon hearing the name.

「ターコイスブルー」 is as you said; It does not include a darker shade of green.
Another problem is that not everyone would be familiar with the term.

「シアン」, I have never heard of. I am pretty sure most other native speakers
would be unfamiliar with the word, too.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-04T23:17:45.420
24123
2015-05-04T23:17:45.420
24120
answer
I remember once I found that saibo also means cyan in Japanese but now I can't
find the romaji that is saibo but means cyan.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-16T22:15:17.997
78615
2020-07-16T22:15:17.997
39698
24120
answer