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cyan · cool

#83dadf

a light, vivid cyan · cool · closest name: Pale Turquoise

Token name suggestion: Meadow Reef

RGB
131, 218, 223
HSL
183°, 59%, 69%
CMYK
41, 2, 0, 13
Luminance
0.6030

#83dadf is a light vivid cyan, 183° on the wheel and 89/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.06:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #238287 instead. Nearest name is Pale Turquoise, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(183 59% 69%)rgb(131 218 223)Base step 400AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #83dadf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#83dadf
Hue
183°
cyan
Saturation
59%
vivid
Lightness
69%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
77%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6030
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
89/100 cool
Color family
Cyan
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
13.06:1
Closest name
Pale Turquoise
ΔE2000 6.3
Chroma
27.1
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.835
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12.9
Web-safe
#99CCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue183° of 360°
Saturation59%
Lightness69%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #83dadf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool89% 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
Red8%
Green83%
Blue9%

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

Every format

HEX#83dadf
HEX (8-digit)#83dadfff
RGBrgb(131, 218, 223)
RGBArgba(131, 218, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(183, 59%, 69%)
HSV / HSBhsv(183, 41%, 87%)
HWBhwb(183 51% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(41%, 2%, 0%, 13%)
LABlab(82.0 -24.9 -10.7)
LCHlch(82.0 27.1 203.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.835 0.084 200.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(47.75, 60.29, 78.92)
Decimal8641247
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.855 0.875)
Web-safe#99CCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #83dadf;
background-color: #83dadf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #83dadf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#83dadf] bg-[#83dadf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #83dadf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.855, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.855, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#83DADF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF83DADF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF83DADF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 218, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 218, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 218, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 218, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.8549f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,218,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #83dadf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #83dadf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#1A6165, #D3EDEE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #83dadf 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: #F4FAFB;
  --brand-100: #E9F6F7;
  --brand-200: #CDEDEF;
  --brand-300: #A6E4E8;
  --brand-400: #83dadf;
  --brand-500: #4DCAD1;
  --brand-600: #32BBC3;
  --brand-700: #2A9CA2;
  --brand-800: #217C82;
  --brand-900: #1C5B5E;
  --brand-950: #11393B;
  --brand: #83dadf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAFA;
  --brand-border: #C0EAED;
  --brand-hover: #67D1D8;
  --brand-pressed: #4AC9D0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #142424;
    --brand-ink: #D3EDEE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F4FAFB',
        100: '#E9F6F7',
        200: '#CDEDEF',
        300: '#A6E4E8',
        400: '#83dadf',
        500: '#4DCAD1',
        600: '#32BBC3',
        700: '#2A9CA2',
        800: '#217C82',
        900: '#1C5B5E',
        950: '#11393B',
        DEFAULT: '#83dadf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F4FAFB,
  '100': #E9F6F7,
  '200': #CDEDEF,
  '300': #A6E4E8,
  '400': #83dadf,
  '500': #4DCAD1,
  '600': #32BBC3,
  '700': #2A9CA2,
  '800': #217C82,
  '900': #1C5B5E,
  '950': #11393B,
);
$brand-base: #83dadf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F4FAFB", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E9F6F7", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#CDEDEF", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#A6E4E8", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#83dadf", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#4DCAD1", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#32BBC3", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#2A9CA2", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#217C82", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#1C5B5E", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#11393B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #83dadf · 13.06:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.06:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #83dadf as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.06:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #1A6165 at 4.44:1.

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
#238287 · 4.55:1
AA on white−36% L
#238287
The quick fox
#1A5F63 · 7.34:1
AAA on white−45% L
#1A5F63
The quick fox
#83dadf · 13.06:1
AA on blackalready passes
#83dadf
The quick fox
#83dadf · 13.06:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#83dadf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #2BA1A8 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
#83dadf on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#83dadf on black: 13.06:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #83dadf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #83dadf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.30:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.96:1AaAa
Slate 6004.71:1AaAa
Slate 7006.44:1AaAa
Slate 8009.10:1AaAa
Slate 90011.10:1AaAa
Black13.06:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CFD3E0
deuteranopia · #BFC7E0
tritanopia · #59E0DB

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. #83dadf 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.

#F4FAFB
#E9F6F7
#CDEDEF
#A6E4E8
#83dadf
#4DCAD1
#32BBC3
#2A9CA2
#217C82
#1C5B5E
#11393B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #F4FAFBDarkest = 950 · #11393BText step on white = 800
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 0.021 200.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.034 200.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.051 200.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.066 200.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.078 200.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.084 200.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.084 200.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.079 200.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.071 200.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.059 200.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.046 200.4);
}

Colors that work with #83dadf

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#F4FAFA
Tinted page background
Border#C0EAED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B969B
Captions on the surface
Accent#A6263F
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#1A6165
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#EBF9FA
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#142424
Dark-mode background
Hover#67D1D8
One step down in lightness
Pressed#4AC9D0
Two steps down
Disabled#E4EDEE
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#8CE5EA
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 #83dadf

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
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • 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 #1A6165
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #2BA1A8

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight31/100
  • 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#DF8883
Analogous left#83DFB6
Analogous right#83ACDF
Split-complement 1#DF83AC
Split-complement 2#DFB683
Triadic 1#DF83DA
Triadic 2#DADF83
Tetradic#B683DF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°183°

#83dadf sits at 183°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green85.5%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
218
0xda
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan41.3%
Magenta2.2%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 56%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#83dadf text on a black background

contrast 13.06:1

Card sample

#83dadf text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#83dadf on grey

1.47:1

#83dadf on its own surface

1.52:1

#83dadf on its dark surface

9.99:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #83dadf;
Background color
Panel with #83dadf background
background-color: #83dadf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #83dadf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 218, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 218, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #83dadf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #83dadf, #839DDF);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83dadf, #8386DF);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #83dadf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #83dadf;
caret-color: #83dadf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #83dadf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #EBF9FA;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #83dadf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#83dadf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #83dadf 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(131, 218, 223, 0.5)
rgb(131 218 223 / 50%)
#83dadf80
hsl(183 59% 69% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #83dadf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#83dadf1a#F3FBFC
20%#83dadf33#E6F8F9
40%#83dadf66#CDF0F2
60%#83dadf99#B5E9EC
80%#83dadfcc#9CE1E5

Gradients from #83dadf

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, #B4E8EC, #83dadf 45%, #1A6165);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #83dadf, #6B80D9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83dadf, #DF8883);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #CCF0F2 0%, #83dadf 45%, #1A6165 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAFA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ABE9C9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #9BB6E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #1A6165 0%, transparent 65%), #83dadf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #83dadf

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.

#83dadf 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
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
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

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 13.06:1.

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.

#83dadf, answered

What color is #83dadf?

#83dadf is a light vivid cyan, closest to Pale Turquoise (ΔE2000 6.3). It sits at 183° on the hue wheel with 59% saturation and 69% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #83dadf?

rgb(131, 218, 223) — 131 red, 218 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 85.5% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #83dadf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(183, 59%, 69%) and hsv(183, 41%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #83dadf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6030 and perceived brightness is 77%, so black text on it reaches 13.06:1.

Should I use black or white text on #83dadf?

Black. It scores 13.06:1 against #83dadf, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #83dadf accessible on a white background?

#83dadf on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #238287 to reach 4.5:1, or #1A5F63 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #83dadf?

#DF8883 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #DF83AC and #DFB683, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #83dadf?

For interface work: #F4FAFA as the surface, #C0EAED for borders, #4B969B for secondary text, #A6263F as an accent and #1A6165 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83DFB6 and #83ACDF stays calm, while #DF8883 is the loudest partner.

What is #83dadf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(41%, 2%, 0%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #83dadf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 89 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #83DFC2; nudged cooler, #81BDE1.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #83dadf?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12.9 away. That is a visible difference, so define #83dadf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #83dadf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#83dadf] or text-[#83dadf], 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 #83dadf with 50% opacity?

rgba(131, 218, 223, 0.5), or #83dadf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1EDEF; over black, #426D70.

Is #83dadf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCCC, ΔE2000 5.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #83dadf 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 #83dadf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #B4E8EC, #83dadf 45%, #1A6165). For more colour, a short hue run to #6B80D9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #83dadf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #83dadf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.