Skip to content
green · neutral

#c9dbaf

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

Token name suggestion: Meadow Basil

RGB
201, 219, 175
HSL
85°, 38%, 77%
CMYK
8, 0, 20, 14
Luminance
0.6618

#c9dbaf is a light soft green, 85° on the wheel and 45/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.24:1). As text it scores 1.48:1 on white — use #607C38 instead. Nearest name is Pale Goldenrod, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(85 38% 77%)rgb(201 219 175)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c9dbaf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c9dbaf
Hue
85°
green
Saturation
38%
soft
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
82%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6618
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
45/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.24:1
Closest name
Pale Goldenrod
ΔE2000 9.2
Chroma
24.0
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.867
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19.1
Web-safe
#CCCC99
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue85° of 360°
Saturation38%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c9dbaf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool45% 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
Red19%
Green77%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#c9dbaf
HEX (8-digit)#c9dbafff
RGBrgb(201, 219, 175)
RGBArgba(201, 219, 175, 1)
HSLhsl(85, 38%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(85, 20%, 86%)
HWBhwb(85 69% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 0%, 20%, 14%)
LABlab(85.1 -13.7 19.7)
LCHlch(85.1 24.0 124.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.867 0.062 125.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.16, 66.18, 50.31)
Decimal13228975
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.859 0.686)
Web-safe#CCCC99

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c9dbaf;
background-color: #c9dbaf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c9dbaf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c9dbaf] bg-[#c9dbaf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c9dbaf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.859, blue: 0.686)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.859, blue: 0.686, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C9DBAF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC9DBAF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC9DBAF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(175, 219, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 219, 175)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 219, 175)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 219, 175)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.8588f, 0.6863f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,219,175}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c9dbaf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c9dbaf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#445828, #E3ECD5);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c9dbaf 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: #F8FAF5;
  --brand-100: #F1F4EB;
  --brand-200: #E0E9D3;
  --brand-300: #c9dbaf;
  --brand-400: #B1CB8B;
  --brand-500: #97B964;
  --brand-600: #83A94C;
  --brand-700: #6D8D3F;
  --brand-800: #577133;
  --brand-900: #415328;
  --brand-950: #293419;
  --brand: #c9dbaf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8FAF4;
  --brand-border: #D9E6C7;
  --brand-hover: #B9D097;
  --brand-pressed: #A8C57E;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E2414;
    --brand-ink: #E3ECD5;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8FAF5',
        100: '#F1F4EB',
        200: '#E0E9D3',
        300: '#c9dbaf',
        400: '#B1CB8B',
        500: '#97B964',
        600: '#83A94C',
        700: '#6D8D3F',
        800: '#577133',
        900: '#415328',
        950: '#293419',
        DEFAULT: '#c9dbaf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8FAF5,
  '100': #F1F4EB,
  '200': #E0E9D3,
  '300': #c9dbaf,
  '400': #B1CB8B,
  '500': #97B964,
  '600': #83A94C,
  '700': #6D8D3F,
  '800': #577133,
  '900': #415328,
  '950': #293419,
);
$brand-base: #c9dbaf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8FAF5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1F4EB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0E9D3", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c9dbaf", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B1CB8B", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#97B964", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#83A94C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6D8D3F", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#577133", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#415328", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#293419", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c9dbaf · 14.24:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.48:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.24:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c9dbaf as text scores 1.48:1 on white and 14.24:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #445828 at 5.33:1.

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
#607C38 · 4.73:1
AA on white−42% L
#607C38
The quick fox
#4A602B · 7.00:1
AAA on white−50% L
#4A602B
The quick fox
#c9dbaf · 14.24:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c9dbaf
The quick fox
#c9dbaf · 14.24:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c9dbaf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7C9F48 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
#c9dbaf on white: 1.48:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c9dbaf on black: 14.24:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c9dbaf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c9dbaf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.48:1AaAa
Slate 501.41:1AaAa
Slate 1001.35:1AaAa
Slate 2001.20:1AaAa
Slate 3001.01:1AaAa
Slate 4001.74:1AaAa
Slate 5003.23:1AaAa
Slate 6005.14:1AaAa
Slate 7007.02:1AaAa
Slate 8009.92:1AaAa
Slate 90012.10:1AaAa
Black14.24:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E0D5AC
deuteranopia · #DDD4B1
tritanopia · #CCD7CF

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. #c9dbaf 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.

#F8FAF5
#F1F4EB
#E0E9D3
#c9dbaf
#B1CB8B
#97B964
#83A94C
#6D8D3F
#577133
#415328
#293419
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8FAF5Darkest = 950 · #293419Text 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 0.015 125.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 125.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.037 125.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.048 125.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.057 125.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.062 125.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.062 125.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.058 125.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.052 125.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.043 125.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.034 125.8);
}

Colors that work with #c9dbaf

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#F8FAF4
Tinted page background
Border#D9E6C7
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7A9B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#4A3C90
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#445828
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F7ED
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E2414
Dark-mode background
Hover#B9D097
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A8C57E
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D4E6B8
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 #c9dbaf

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 #445828
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7C9F48

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
  • Weight23/100
  • 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#C1AFDB
Analogous left#DBD7AF
Analogous right#B3DBAF
Split-complement 1#AFB3DB
Split-complement 2#D7AFDB
Triadic 1#AFC9DB
Triadic 2#DBAFC9
Tetradic#AFDBD7
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°85°

#c9dbaf sits at 85°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green85.9%
Blue68.6%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
219
0xdb
B · 0–255
175
0xaf

CMYK percentages

Cyan8.2%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow20.1%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 42%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c9dbaf text on a black background

contrast 14.24:1

Card sample

#c9dbaf text on a white background

contrast 1.48:1

Card sample

#c9dbaf on grey

1.35:1

#c9dbaf on its own surface

1.40:1

#c9dbaf on its dark surface

10.80:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c9dbaf;
Background color
Panel with #c9dbaf background
background-color: #c9dbaf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c9dbaf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 219, 175, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 219, 175, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c9dbaf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c9dbaf, #AFDBB2);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9dbaf, #AFDBBD);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c9dbaf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c9dbaf;
caret-color: #c9dbaf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c9dbaf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F7ED;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c9dbaf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c9dbaf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c9dbaf 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(201, 219, 175, 0.5)
rgb(201 219 175 / 50%)
#c9dbaf80
hsl(85 38% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c9dbaf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c9dbaf1a#FAFBF7
20%#c9dbaf33#F4F8EF
40%#c9dbaf66#E9F1DF
60%#c9dbaf99#DFE9CF
80%#c9dbafcc#D4E2BF

Gradients from #c9dbaf

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, #E6EED9, #c9dbaf 45%, #445828);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c9dbaf, #9AD2A3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9dbaf, #C1AFDB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F8EE 0%, #c9dbaf 45%, #445828 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8FAF4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EBE7D2 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #C5E5C4 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #445828 0%, transparent 65%), #c9dbaf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c9dbaf

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.

#c9dbaf 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 14.24:1.

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.

#c9dbaf, answered

What color is #c9dbaf?

#c9dbaf is a light soft green, closest to Pale Goldenrod (ΔE2000 9.2). It sits at 85° on the hue wheel with 38% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #c9dbaf?

rgb(201, 219, 175) — 201 red, 219 green and 175 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 85.9% / 68.6% by channel.

What is #c9dbaf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(85, 38%, 77%) and hsv(85, 20%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c9dbaf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6618 and perceived brightness is 82%, so black text on it reaches 14.24:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c9dbaf?

Black. It scores 14.24:1 against #c9dbaf, versus 1.48:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c9dbaf accessible on a white background?

#c9dbaf on white scores 1.48:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #607C38 to reach 4.5:1, or #4A602B for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c9dbaf?

#C1AFDB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #AFB3DB and #D7AFDB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c9dbaf?

For interface work: #F8FAF4 as the surface, #D9E6C7 for borders, #7A9B4B for secondary text, #4A3C90 as an accent and #445828 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DBD7AF and #B3DBAF stays calm, while #C1AFDB is the loudest partner.

What is #c9dbaf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 0%, 20%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c9dbaf warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 45 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D9DBAF; nudged cooler, #B8DCAE.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c9dbaf?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c9dbaf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c9dbaf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c9dbaf] or text-[#c9dbaf], 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 #c9dbaf with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 219, 175, 0.5), or #c9dbaf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4EDD7; over black, #656E58.

Is #c9dbaf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCC99, ΔE2000 6.6 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c9dbaf 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 #c9dbaf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6EED9, #c9dbaf 45%, #445828). For more colour, a short hue run to #9AD2A3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c9dbaf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c9dbaf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.