Skip to content
green · neutral

#c4dbab

a light, soft green · neutral · closest name: Pale Goldenrod

Token name suggestion: Meadow Basil

RGB
196, 219, 171
HSL
89°, 40%, 77%
CMYK
11, 0, 22, 14
Luminance
0.6534

#c4dbab is a light soft green, 89° on the wheel and 49/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.07:1). As text it scores 1.49:1 on white — use #5C7F36 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(89 40% 77%)rgb(196 219 171)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c4dbab is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c4dbab
Hue
89°
green
Saturation
40%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
81%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6534
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
49/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.07:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 9.9
Chroma
26.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.862
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 18.1
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue89° of 360°
Saturation40%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c4dbab.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool49% 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
Red18%
Green78%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#c4dbab
HEX (8-digit)#c4dbabff
RGBrgb(196, 219, 171)
RGBArgba(196, 219, 171, 1)
HSLhsl(89, 40%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(89, 22%, 86%)
HWBhwb(89 67% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(11%, 0%, 22%, 14%)
LABlab(84.7 -16.1 21.1)
LCHlch(84.7 26.5 127.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.862 0.069 128.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(55.45, 65.34, 48.21)
Decimal12901291
Display P3color(display-p3 0.769 0.859 0.671)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c4dbab;
background-color: #c4dbab;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c4dbab;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c4dbab] bg-[#c4dbab]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c4dbab;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.769, green: 0.859, blue: 0.671)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.769, green: 0.859, blue: 0.671, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C4DBAB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC4DBAB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC4DBAB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(171, 219, 196)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(196, 219, 171)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(196, 219, 171)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 196, 219, 171)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7686f, 0.8588f, 0.6706f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{196,219,171}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c4dbab 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c4dbab 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#415926, #E1EDD4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c4dbab 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: #F7FAF5;
  --brand-100: #F0F4EB;
  --brand-200: #DEEAD2;
  --brand-300: #c4dbab;
  --brand-400: #ACCD89;
  --brand-500: #91BC62;
  --brand-600: #7DAB49;
  --brand-700: #688F3D;
  --brand-800: #537231;
  --brand-900: #3E5427;
  --brand-950: #273418;
  --brand: #c4dbab;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7FAF4;
  --brand-border: #D7E7C6;
  --brand-hover: #B3D092;
  --brand-pressed: #A1C679;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1C2414;
    --brand-ink: #E1EDD4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7FAF5',
        100: '#F0F4EB',
        200: '#DEEAD2',
        300: '#c4dbab',
        400: '#ACCD89',
        500: '#91BC62',
        600: '#7DAB49',
        700: '#688F3D',
        800: '#537231',
        900: '#3E5427',
        950: '#273418',
        DEFAULT: '#c4dbab',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7FAF5,
  '100': #F0F4EB,
  '200': #DEEAD2,
  '300': #c4dbab,
  '400': #ACCD89,
  '500': #91BC62,
  '600': #7DAB49,
  '700': #688F3D,
  '800': #537231,
  '900': #3E5427,
  '950': #273418,
);
$brand-base: #c4dbab;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7FAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEEAD2", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c4dbab", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ACCD89", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#91BC62", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7DAB49", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#688F3D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#537231", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E5427", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#273418", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c4dbab · 14.07:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.49:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.07:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c4dbab as text scores 1.49:1 on white and 14.07:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #415926 at 5.25:1.

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
#5C7F36 · 4.62:1
AA on white−41% L
#5C7F36
The quick fox
#455F29 · 7.19:1
AAA on white−50% L
#455F29
The quick fox
#c4dbab · 14.07:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c4dbab
The quick fox
#c4dbab · 14.07:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c4dbab

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #739F44 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
#c4dbab on white: 1.49:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c4dbab on black: 14.07:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c4dbab as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c4dbab.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.49:1AaAa
Slate 501.43:1AaAa
Slate 1001.36:1AaAa
Slate 2001.21:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.72:1AaAa
Slate 5003.19:1AaAa
Slate 6005.08:1AaAa
Slate 7006.94:1AaAa
Slate 8009.80:1AaAa
Slate 90011.96:1AaAa
Black14.07:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E0D4A8
deuteranopia · #DDD3AD
tritanopia · #C6D7CE

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. #c4dbab is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7FAF5
#F0F4EB
#DEEAD2
#c4dbab
#ACCD89
#91BC62
#7DAB49
#688F3D
#537231
#3E5427
#273418
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7FAF5Darkest = 950 · #273418Text 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 0.017 128.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.028 128.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.041 128.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.054 128.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.063 128.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.069 128.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.069 128.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.065 128.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.058 128.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.048 128.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.038 128.6);
}

Colors that work with #c4dbab

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#F7FAF4
Tinted page background
Border#D7E7C6
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#749B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4E3A92
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#415926
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F7ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1C2414
Dark-mode background
Hover#B3D092
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A1C679
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#CEE6B4
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 #c4dbab

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Charts, tags and secondary surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White 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
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #415926
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #739F44

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 lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight24/100
  • 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#C2ABDB
Analogous left#DBDAAB
Analogous right#ACDBAB
Split-complement 1#ABACDB
Split-complement 2#DAABDB
Triadic 1#ABC4DB
Triadic 2#DBABC4
Tetradic#ABDBDA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°89°

#c4dbab sits at 89°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red76.9%
Green85.9%
Blue67.1%
R · 0–255
196
0xc4
G · 0–255
219
0xdb
B · 0–255
171
0xab

CMYK percentages

Cyan10.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow21.9%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 47%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c4dbab text on a black background

contrast 14.07:1

Card sample

#c4dbab text on a white background

contrast 1.49:1

Card sample

#c4dbab on grey

1.36:1

#c4dbab on its own surface

1.42:1

#c4dbab on its dark surface

10.72:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c4dbab;
Background color
Panel with #c4dbab background
background-color: #c4dbab;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c4dbab;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(196, 219, 171, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(196, 219, 171, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c4dbab;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c4dbab, #ABDBB2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4dbab, #ABDBBE);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c4dbab;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c4dbab;
caret-color: #c4dbab;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c4dbab;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F7ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c4dbab;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c4dbab 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c4dbab 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(196, 219, 171, 0.5)
rgb(196 219 171 / 50%)
#c4dbab80
hsl(89 40% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c4dbab 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c4dbab1a#F9FBF7
20%#c4dbab33#F3F8EE
40%#c4dbab66#E7F1DD
60%#c4dbab99#DCE9CD
80%#c4dbabcc#D0E2BC

Gradients from #c4dbab

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, #E2EDD6, #c4dbab 45%, #415926);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c4dbab, #96D2A3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c4dbab, #C2ABDB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F1F7EB 0%, #c4dbab 45%, #415926 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7FAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EAE7CF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C1E4C3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #415926 0%, transparent 65%), #c4dbab;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c4dbab

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.

#c4dbab 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
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 14.07:1.

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.

#c4dbab, answered

What color is #c4dbab?

#c4dbab is a light soft green, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 9.9). It sits at 89° on the hue wheel with 40% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #c4dbab?

rgb(196, 219, 171) — 196 red, 219 green and 171 blue out of 255, or 76.9% / 85.9% / 67.1% by channel.

What is #c4dbab in HSL and HSV?

hsl(89, 40%, 77%) and hsv(89, 22%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c4dbab a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6534 and perceived brightness is 81%, so black text on it reaches 14.07:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c4dbab?

Black. It scores 14.07:1 against #c4dbab, versus 1.49:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c4dbab accessible on a white background?

#c4dbab on white scores 1.49:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #5C7F36 to reach 4.5:1, or #455F29 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c4dbab?

#C2ABDB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ABACDB and #DAABDB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c4dbab?

For interface work: #F7FAF4 as the surface, #D7E7C6 for borders, #749B4B for secondary text, #4E3A92 as an accent and #415926 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DBDAAB and #ACDBAB stays calm, while #C2ABDB is the loudest partner.

What is #c4dbab in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(11%, 0%, 22%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c4dbab warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 49 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D6DBAB; nudged cooler, #B2DCAA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c4dbab?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 18.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c4dbab as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c4dbab in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c4dbab] or text-[#c4dbab], 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 #c4dbab with 50% opacity?

rgba(196, 219, 171, 0.5), or #c4dbab80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E2EDD5; over black, #626E56.

Is #c4dbab a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c4dbab 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 #c4dbab?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E2EDD6, #c4dbab 45%, #415926). For more colour, a short hue run to #96D2A3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c4dbab in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c4dbab at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.