Can the color cyan (#00FFFF or 0, 255, 255 / [google color
picker](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%2300FFFF)) refer to the color
mizuiro? Mizuiro in Japanese literally means "water-colored" so I wanted to
know if mizuiro could refer to the cyan color or any of its variations
mentioned below. I would also like to know if there are other color words that
can be used to describe these colors.

Cyan Color 1(#71D1CF HEX code or 113, 209, 207 RGB code / [google color
picker](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%2371D1CF))

Cyan Color 2(#00CBD2 or 0, 203, 210 / [google color
picker](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%2300CBD2))

Cyan Color 3(#AFE8EA or 175, 232, 234 / [google color
picker](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%23AFE8EA))

Cyan Color 4(#68C1C2 or 104, 193, 194 / [google color
picker](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%2368C1C2))
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colors
Can certain shades of the cyan/aqua color be considered a variation of the color mizuiro?
Here is the [Japanese Wikipedia entry for
水色](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4%E8%89%B2?oldid=42481733) that you
can look at, but here are some key points:

  1. > 現在では一般的に淡い青色のことを水色と呼ぶことがあり、その中には空色などが含まれることが多い。空色はとくに水色に近いため、色鉛筆やクレヨンのセットでは水色に代表されることが多く、しばしば同一視される。

  2. > 英語の **アクア** は一般的な水の色を表す名前であるが、ウェブカラーではAquaは青緑に近く彩度の高い色合いとして定義されている。

  3. > そのほかにも英語には水の色に由来する色名が多い。

So the verdict is.....‍♂️? Sky Blue and 水色 are often used interchangeably. It
addresses the fact that web "aqua"/cyan is a saturated blue-green (which we
know by its values), but it doesn't say definitively that you can/can't call
that 水色. And there are many colour names in English based on the colour of
water...so I suppose they fall under 水色. To this end, the page lists some
other colour names: アクアブルー, [水縹]{みず・はなだ}, アクアグリーン, and ウォーターグリーン.

I would say the four colours you gave could probably safely be called 水色 in
conversation, or even in a general specification. But you could also more
closely try to pigeonhole them into one of those other colours when you need
to be more precise.
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Typical 水色 contains much more red and less green in the RGB space, i.e., much
whiter (see [this Wikipedia
article](https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B4%E8%89%B2)). But I think
it's perfectly understandabke to call cyan (#00ffff) 濃い水色 or 鮮やかな水色.

**EDIT:** Among the colors you listed, #afe8ea is closest to what Japanese
people imagine with 水色. You can find [many traditional Japanese
colors](https://www.colordic.org/w) if you search, but most of these are rare
and even Japanese people are not familiar with them. Common color names around
blue and green that Japanese use in everyday life (aside from 青 and 緑
themselves) are 水色 and 青緑. So if they see vivid cyan like #00ffff, most people
describe it as 濃い水色 or maybe 青に近い青緑.

See also: [Is there a word that describes greenish-blue colours (of any
shade)?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24120/5010)
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