the word 'teal' originates from the middle english 'tele', which referred to the duck species. this term is likely of germanic origin, related to middle dutch 'teling' and middle low german 'telink'. the name of the bird is ancient, and its application to the distinctive greenish-blue colour is a classic example of a metonymic shift, where the property (colour) of the object (the duck) becomes the primary meaning. the colour sense, first recorded in the early 20th century, derives directly from the striking coloured markings found around the eyes and on the wings of the common teal (anas crecca).

the word is a simplex. it is a loanword where the entire form was adopted as a single unit.