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cyan · cool

#4df9da

a balanced, electric cyan · cool · closest name: Aqua Marine

Token name suggestion: Signal Glacier

RGB
77, 249, 218
HSL
169°, 94%, 64%
CMYK
69, 0, 12, 2
Luminance
0.7439

#4df9da is a balanced electric cyan, 169° on the wheel and 83/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (15.88:1). As text it scores 1.32:1 on white — use #04856E instead. Nearest name is Aqua Marine, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(169 94% 64%)rgb(77 249 218)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #4df9da is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#4df9da
Hue
169°
cyan
Saturation
94%
electric
Lightness
64%
balanced
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7439
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
83/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
15.88:1
Closest name
Aqua Marine
ΔE2000 5.1
Chroma
50.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.888
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 15.7
Web-safe
#66FFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue169° of 360°
Saturation94%
Lightness64%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #4df9da.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool83% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red2%
Green91%
Blue7%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#4df9da
HEX (8-digit)#4df9daff
RGBrgb(77, 249, 218)
RGBArgba(77, 249, 218, 1)
HSLhsl(169, 94%, 64%)
HSV / HSBhsv(169, 69%, 98%)
HWBhwb(169 30% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(69%, 0%, 12%, 2%)
LABlab(89.1 -50.5 2.2)
LCHlch(89.1 50.6 177.5)
OKLCHoklch(0.888 0.145 178.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(49.58, 74.39, 78.06)
Decimal5110234
Display P3color(display-p3 0.302 0.976 0.855)
Web-safe#66FFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #4df9da;
background-color: #4df9da;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #4df9da;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#4df9da] bg-[#4df9da]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #4df9da;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.302, green: 0.976, blue: 0.855)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.302, green: 0.976, blue: 0.855, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#4DF9DA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF4DF9DA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF4DF9DA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(218, 249, 77)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(77, 249, 218)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(77, 249, 218)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 77, 249, 218)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3020f, 0.9765f, 0.8549f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{77,249,218}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #4df9da 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #4df9da 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#047B66, #D3EEE9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #4df9da h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2FDFB;
  --brand-100: #E4FBF7;
  --brand-200: #C2FAF0;
  --brand-300: #92FBE8;
  --brand-400: #4df9da;
  --brand-500: #26F8D2;
  --brand-600: #08EDC4;
  --brand-700: #07C5A3;
  --brand-800: #059E82;
  --brand-900: #09725F;
  --brand-950: #05473B;
  --brand: #4df9da;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF9;
  --brand-border: #C0EDE5;
  --brand-hover: #2AF8D3;
  --brand-pressed: #08F6CB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142421;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2FDFB',
        100: '#E4FBF7',
        200: '#C2FAF0',
        300: '#92FBE8',
        400: '#4df9da',
        500: '#26F8D2',
        600: '#08EDC4',
        700: '#07C5A3',
        800: '#059E82',
        900: '#09725F',
        950: '#05473B',
        DEFAULT: '#4df9da',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2FDFB,
  '100': #E4FBF7,
  '200': #C2FAF0,
  '300': #92FBE8,
  '400': #4df9da,
  '500': #26F8D2,
  '600': #08EDC4,
  '700': #07C5A3,
  '800': #059E82,
  '900': #09725F,
  '950': #05473B,
);
$brand-base: #4df9da;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2FDFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4FBF7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C2FAF0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#92FBE8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#4df9da", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#26F8D2", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#08EDC4", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#07C5A3", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#059E82", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#09725F", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#05473B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #4df9da · 15.88:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.32:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 15.88:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #4df9da as text scores 1.32:1 on white and 15.88:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #047B66 at 3.94:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#04856E · 4.58:1
AA on white−37% L
#04856E
The quick fox
#036251 · 7.32:1
AAA on white−44% L
#036251
The quick fox
#4df9da · 15.88:1
AA on blackalready passes
#4df9da
The quick fox
#4df9da · 15.88:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#4df9da

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #06A78A is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#4df9da on white: 1.32:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#4df9da on black: 15.88:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #4df9da as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #4df9da.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.32:1AaAa
Slate 501.26:1AaAa
Slate 1001.21:1AaAa
Slate 2001.07:1AaAa
Slate 3001.12:1AaAa
Slate 4001.94:1AaAa
Slate 5003.60:1AaAa
Slate 6005.73:1AaAa
Slate 7007.83:1AaAa
Slate 80011.06:1AaAa
Slate 90013.50:1AaAa
Black15.88:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EFEAD9
deuteranopia · #D7D9DC
tritanopia · #00FDF0

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #4df9da is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2FDFB
#E4FBF7
#C2FAF0
#92FBE8
#4df9da
#26F8D2
#08EDC4
#07C5A3
#059E82
#09725F
#05473B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F2FDFBDarkest = 950 · #05473BText step on white = 900
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.036 178.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.058 178.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.087 178.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.113 178.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.134 178.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.145 178.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.145 178.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.136 178.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.122 178.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.102 178.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.080 178.0);
}

Colors that work with #4df9da

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4FAF9
Tinted page background
Border#C0EDE5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B8C
Captions on the surface
Accent#FD4996
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#047B66
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6FEFA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142421
Dark-mode background
Hover#2AF8D3
One step down in lightness
Pressed#08F6CB
Two steps down
Disabled#D3E3E0
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#5BFFE2
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #4df9da

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
  • Chart series and data categories
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #047B66
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #06A78A

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

cleantechnicalfreshclinical

Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The mid lightness keeps it versatile in both themes.

Worth knowing

At high lightness it disappears into white surfaces and thin strokes vanish entirely.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight36/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#F94D6C
Analogous left#4DF984
Analogous right#4DC2F9
Split-complement 1#F94DC2
Split-complement 2#F9844D
Triadic 1#DA4DF9
Triadic 2#F9DA4D
Tetradic#844DF9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°169°

#4df9da sits at 169°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red30.2%
Green97.6%
Blue85.5%
R · 0–255
77
0x4d
G · 0–255
249
0xf9
B · 0–255
218
0xda

CMYK percentages

Cyan69.1%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow12.4%
Key (black)2.4%

Total ink coverage is 84%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#4df9da text on a black background

contrast 15.88:1

Card sample

#4df9da text on a white background

contrast 1.32:1

Card sample

#4df9da on grey

1.21:1

#4df9da on its own surface

1.25:1

#4df9da on its dark surface

12.18:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #4df9da;
Background color
Panel with #4df9da background
background-color: #4df9da;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #4df9da;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(77, 249, 218, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(77, 249, 218, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #4df9da;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #4df9da, #4DA5F9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4df9da, #4D7AF9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #4df9da;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #4df9da;
caret-color: #4df9da;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #4df9da;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6FEFA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #4df9da;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#4df9da 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #4df9da over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(77, 249, 218, 0.5)
rgb(77 249 218 / 50%)
#4df9da80
hsl(169 94% 64% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #4df9da 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#4df9da1a#EDFEFB
20%#4df9da33#DBFEF8
40%#4df9da66#B8FDF0
60%#4df9da99#94FBE9
80%#4df9dacc#71FAE1

Gradients from #4df9da

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #88FBE6, #4df9da 45%, #047B66);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #4df9da, #2F86F8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #4df9da, #F94D6C);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #A6FCEC 0%, #4df9da 45%, #047B66 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF9, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #7EFB9C 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #6AC0FA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #047B66 0%, transparent 65%), #4df9da;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #4df9da

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#4df9da in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyTravelHealthcareMedia
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 15.88:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#4df9da, answered

What color is #4df9da?

#4df9da is a balanced electric cyan, closest to Aqua Marine (ΔE2000 5.1). It sits at 169° on the hue wheel with 94% saturation and 64% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #4df9da?

rgb(77, 249, 218) — 77 red, 249 green and 218 blue out of 255, or 30.2% / 97.6% / 85.5% by channel.

What is #4df9da in HSL and HSV?

hsl(169, 94%, 64%) and hsv(169, 69%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #4df9da a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7439 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 15.88:1.

Should I use black or white text on #4df9da?

Black. It scores 15.88:1 against #4df9da, versus 1.32:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #4df9da accessible on a white background?

#4df9da on white scores 1.32:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #04856E to reach 4.5:1, or #036251 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #4df9da?

#F94D6C sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #F94DC2 and #F9844D, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #4df9da?

For interface work: #F4FAF9 as the surface, #C0EDE5 for borders, #4B9B8C for secondary text, #FD4996 as an accent and #047B66 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #4DF984 and #4DC2F9 stays calm, while #F94D6C is the loudest partner.

What is #4df9da in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(69%, 0%, 12%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #4df9da warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 83 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #4DF99B; nudged cooler, #4BDAFB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #4df9da?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 15.7 away. That is a visible difference, so define #4df9da as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #4df9da in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#4df9da] or text-[#4df9da], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #4df9da with 50% opacity?

rgba(77, 249, 218, 0.5), or #4df9da80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A6FCED; over black, #277D6D.

Is #4df9da a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #66FFCC, ΔE2000 5.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #4df9da mean?

As a cyan, it reads clean, technical, fresh. Cyan reads as water, air and infrastructure: cool, hygienic, engineered. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #4df9da?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #88FBE6, #4df9da 45%, #047B66). For more colour, a short hue run to #2F86F8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #4df9da in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #4df9da at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.