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green · neutral

#516f49

a dark, soft green · neutral · closest name: Dark Olive Green

Token name suggestion: Shadow Basil

RGB
81, 111, 73
HSL
107°, 21%, 36%
CMYK
27, 0, 34, 57
Luminance
0.1360

#516f49 is a dark soft green, 107° on the wheel and 54/100 on the cool side. Put white text on it (5.65:1). As text it scores 5.65:1 on white — safe at any size. Nearest name is Dark Olive Green, nearest Tailwind family is neutral.

hsl(107 21% 36%)rgb(81 111 73)Base step 700AA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #516f49 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#516f49
Hue
107°
green
Saturation
21%
soft
Lightness
36%
dark
Brightness
44%
HSV value
Perceived
39%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.1360
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
54/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
White
5.65:1
Closest name
Dark Olive Green
ΔE2000 6.7
Chroma
25.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.508
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
neutral
500 · ΔE 19.4
Web-safe
#666633
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue107° of 360°
Saturation21%
Lightness36%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #516f49.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool54% cool

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

Luminance by channel
Red13%
Green84%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#516f49
HEX (8-digit)#516f49ff
RGBrgb(81, 111, 73)
RGBArgba(81, 111, 73, 1)
HSLhsl(107, 21%, 36%)
HSV / HSBhsv(107, 34%, 44%)
HWBhwb(107 29% 56%)
CMYKcmyk(27%, 0%, 34%, 57%)
LABlab(43.6 -18.9 17.8)
LCHlch(43.6 25.9 136.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.508 0.068 139.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(10.28, 13.60, 8.39)
Decimal5336905
Display P3color(display-p3 0.318 0.435 0.286)
Web-safe#666633

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #516f49;
background-color: #516f49;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #516f49;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#516f49] bg-[#516f49]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #516f49;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.318, green: 0.435, blue: 0.286)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.318, green: 0.435, blue: 0.286, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#516F49</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF516F49)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF516F49)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(73, 111, 81)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(81, 111, 73)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(81, 111, 73)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 81, 111, 73)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.3176f, 0.4353f, 0.2863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{81,111,73}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #516f49 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #516f49 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#384D33, #DDE7DA);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #516f49 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: #F7F9F6;
  --brand-100: #EEF2ED;
  --brand-200: #DAE4D8;
  --brand-300: #C0D3BB;
  --brand-400: #A1BC99;
  --brand-500: #81A678;
  --brand-600: #6C9461;
  --brand-700: #516f49;
  --brand-800: #486241;
  --brand-900: #364932;
  --brand-950: #222E1F;
  --brand: #516f49;
  --brand-ink: #ffffff;
  --brand-surface: #F6F9F6;
  --brand-border: #D1DFCE;
  --brand-hover: #415A3B;
  --brand-pressed: #32442D;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #192216;
    --brand-ink: #DDE7DA;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F9F6',
        100: '#EEF2ED',
        200: '#DAE4D8',
        300: '#C0D3BB',
        400: '#A1BC99',
        500: '#81A678',
        600: '#6C9461',
        700: '#516f49',
        800: '#486241',
        900: '#364932',
        950: '#222E1F',
        DEFAULT: '#516f49',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F9F6,
  '100': #EEF2ED,
  '200': #DAE4D8,
  '300': #C0D3BB,
  '400': #A1BC99,
  '500': #81A678,
  '600': #6C9461,
  '700': #516f49,
  '800': #486241,
  '900': #364932,
  '950': #222E1F,
);
$brand-base: #516f49;
$brand-ink: #ffffff;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F9F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EEF2ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DAE4D8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C0D3BB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A1BC99", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#81A678", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#6C9461", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#516f49", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#486241", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#364932", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#222E1F", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#ffffff", "$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#ffffff on #516f49 · 5.65:1
Use #ffffffAA at every size, AAA for large text only.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 5.65:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 3.72:1
AA fail · AA large pass · AAA fail
Reading the other direction: #516f49 as text scores 5.65:1 on white and 3.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #F1F5F0 at 5.12:1.

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
#516f49 · 5.65:1
AA on whitealready passes
#516f49
The quick fox
#445D3D · 7.29:1
AAA on white−6% L
#445D3D
The quick fox
#5C7E53 · 4.56:1
AA on black+5% L
#5C7E53
The quick fox
#79A06F · 7.07:1
AAA on black+17% L
#79A06F

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #516F49 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
#516f49 on white: 5.65:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#516f49 on black: 3.72:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #516f49 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #516f49.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White5.65:1AaAa
Slate 505.40:1AaAa
Slate 1005.15:1AaAa
Slate 2004.58:1AaAa
Slate 3003.80:1AaAa
Slate 4002.20:1AaAa
Slate 5001.19:1AaAa
Slate 6001.34:1AaAa
Slate 7001.83:1AaAa
Slate 8002.59:1AaAa
Slate 9003.16:1AaAa
Black3.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #716946
deuteranopia · #6D664B
tritanopia · #4F6C65

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. #516f49 is pinned to step 700; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F9F6
#EEF2ED
#DAE4D8
#C0D3BB
#A1BC99
#81A678
#6C9461
#516f49
#486241
#364932
#222E1F
Base = 700Lightest = 50 · #F7F9F6Darkest = 950 · #222E1FText step on white = 700
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 0.017 139.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.027 139.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 139.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.053 139.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.063 139.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.068 139.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.068 139.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.064 139.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.057 139.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.048 139.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.037 139.2);
}

Colors that work with #516f49

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

Text on it#ffffff
White wins here
Surface#F6F9F6
Tinted page background
Border#D1DFCE
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#658B5B
Captions on the surface
Accent#5E4573
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#384D33
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F5F0
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#192216
Dark-mode background
Hover#415A3B
One step down in lightness
Pressed#32442D
Two steps down
Disabled#87AA7E
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#548647
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 #516f49

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

Works well for
  • Body text and links on white
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Headers, footers and dark-mode surfaces
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Black text placed on it
  • Status meaning — pair it with an icon or label, never colour alone
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Any size
Safe as a fill behind white type
Yes
Safe as a 1px border on white
Yes

Meaning and mood

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

safegrowingnaturalpermissive

Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed.

The muted chroma softens the association — it reads considered rather than loud, which suits long-form and data-heavy screens. The low lightness adds weight and formality.

Worth knowing

Red/green pairs are the most common colour-blindness failure — never let the two carry meaning alone.

Reads as
  • FormalityHigh
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight64/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

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#67496F
Analogous left#646F49
Analogous right#496F54
Split-complement 1#54496F
Split-complement 2#6F4964
Triadic 1#49516F
Triadic 2#6F4951
Tetradic#49646F
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°107°

#516f49 sits at 107°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red31.8%
Green43.5%
Blue28.6%
R · 0–255
81
0x51
G · 0–255
111
0x6f
B · 0–255
73
0x49

CMYK percentages

Cyan27.0%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow34.2%
Key (black)56.5%

Total ink coverage is 118%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#516f49 text on a black background

contrast 3.72:1

Card sample

#516f49 text on a white background

contrast 5.65:1

Card sample

#516f49 on grey

5.15:1

#516f49 on its own surface

5.32:1

#516f49 on its dark surface

2.90:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #516f49;
Background color
Panel with #516f49 background
background-color: #516f49;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #516f49;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(81, 111, 73, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(81, 111, 73, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #516f49;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #516f49, #496F5A);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #516f49, #496F64);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #516f49;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #516f49;
caret-color: #516f49;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #516f49;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F5F0;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #516f49;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#516f49 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #516f49 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(81, 111, 73, 0.5)
rgb(81 111 73 / 50%)
#516f4980
hsl(107 21% 36% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #516f49 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#516f491a#EEF1ED
20%#516f4933#DCE2DB
40%#516f4966#B9C5B6
60%#516f4999#97A992
80%#516f49cc#748C6D

Gradients from #516f49

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, #6C9461, #516f49 45%, #384D33);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #516f49, #3D5D4E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #516f49, #67496F);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #7CA272 0%, #516f49 45%, #384D33 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F6F9F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #848E5D 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #558266 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #384D33 0%, transparent 65%), #516f49;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #516f49

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.

#516f49 in the real world

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

Industries
SustainabilityFinanceHealth and wellnessAgriculture
Common UI roles
ButtonsLinksFocus statesCharts
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

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

In dark mode

Too dim on dark surfaces at 3.72:1 — lift it to #5C7E53 for body text, or reserve it for fills.

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.

#516f49, answered

What color is #516f49?

#516f49 is a dark soft green, closest to Dark Olive Green (ΔE2000 6.7). It sits at 107° on the hue wheel with 21% saturation and 36% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #516f49?

rgb(81, 111, 73) — 81 red, 111 green and 73 blue out of 255, or 31.8% / 43.5% / 28.6% by channel.

What is #516f49 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(107, 21%, 36%) and hsv(107, 34%, 44%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #516f49 a light or a dark color?

It is a dark color. Relative luminance is 0.1360 and perceived brightness is 39%, so white text on it reaches 5.65:1.

Should I use black or white text on #516f49?

White. It scores 5.65:1 against #516f49, versus 3.72:1 for black — AA at any size.

Is #516f49 accessible on a white background?

#516f49 on white scores 5.65:1, which clears AA at every size but not AAA.

What is the complementary color of #516f49?

#67496F sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #54496F and #6F4964, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #516f49?

For interface work: #F6F9F6 as the surface, #D1DFCE for borders, #658B5B for secondary text, #5E4573 as an accent and #384D33 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #646F49 and #496F54 stays calm, while #67496F is the loudest partner.

What is #516f49 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(27%, 0%, 34%, 57%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #516f49 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 54 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #5F6F49; nudged cooler, #47714E.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #516f49?

The neutral family — its 500 step is #737373, ΔE2000 19.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #516f49 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #516f49 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#516f49] or text-[#516f49], 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 #516f49 with 50% opacity?

rgba(81, 111, 73, 0.5), or #516f4980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #A8B7A4; over black, #293825.

Is #516f49 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #666633, ΔE2000 10.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #516f49 mean?

As a green, it reads safe, growing, natural. Green means go, well, and grown. It carries finance, sustainability and health with almost no explanation needed. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #516f49?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #6C9461, #516f49 45%, #384D33). For more colour, a short hue run to #3D5D4E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #516f49 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #516f49 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.