teal
Americannoun
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any of several species of small dabbling ducks, of worldwide distribution, usually traveling in tight flocks and frequenting ponds and marshes.
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Also called teal blue. a medium to dark greenish blue.
noun
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any of various small ducks, such as the Eurasian Anas crecca ( common teal ) that are related to the mallard and frequent ponds, lakes, and marshes
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a greenish-blue colour
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teal
1275–1325; Middle English tele; akin to Dutch taling, Middle Low German telink
Compare meaning
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Explanation
Teal things are colored a deep shade of blue-green, like the sparkling teal water in a tropical lagoon. The color gets its name from a kind of duck, also called a teal. The common teal is a migratory water bird, a duck with a teal stripe on its head and wings. The origin of the word is unclear, but we know the bird came first and then the color—the green-blue teal was first used in print in a 1923 clothing advertisement. It was added as an official color to the Plochere Color System, an interior design reference, in 1948, and became a Crayola crayon color in 1990.
Vocabulary lists containing teal
Blue
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Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
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Green
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Ideally, you would want broader participation,” said Eric Teal, chief investment officer at First Horizon Wealth Management.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
In fact, Teal thinks that the tech stocks need the rest of the market to prove that AI doesn’t just benefit the big guys.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
“The middle of the income distribution remains very uncertain as we approach the holiday season,” said Eric Teal, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 25, 2025
"There is pent-up demand in housing, but affordability remains out of reach for many first-time homeowners," said Eric Teal, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management.
From BBC • Sep. 24, 2025
He was a sixteen-year-old Toyota Corolla with a paint color called Mystic Teal Mica and an engine that clanked in a steady rhythm like the beating of his immaculate metallic heart.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
