Skip to content
green · neutral

#defdb9

a pale, electric green · neutral · closest name: Light Goldenrod Yellow

Token name suggestion: Frost Moss

RGB
222, 253, 185
HSL
87°, 94%, 86%
CMYK
12, 0, 27, 1
Luminance
0.8928

#defdb9 is a pale electric green, 87° on the wheel and 48/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (18.86:1). As text it scores 1.11:1 on white — use #4A8504 instead. Nearest name is Light Goldenrod Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(87 94% 86%)rgb(222 253 185)Base step 200AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #defdb9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#defdb9
Hue
87°
green
Saturation
94%
electric
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
99%
HSV value
Perceived
93%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8928
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
48/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
18.86:1
Closest name
Light Goldenrod Yellow
ΔE2000 9.5
Chroma
36.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.955
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 19
Web-safe
#CCFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue87° of 360°
Saturation94%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #defdb9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool48% 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
Red17%
Green79%
Blue4%

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

Every format

HEX#defdb9
HEX (8-digit)#defdb9ff
RGBrgb(222, 253, 185)
RGBArgba(222, 253, 185, 1)
HSLhsl(87, 94%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(87, 27%, 99%)
HWBhwb(87 73% 1%)
CMYKcmyk(12%, 0%, 27%, 1%)
LABlab(95.7 -21.5 29.3)
LCHlch(95.7 36.3 126.2)
OKLCHoklch(0.955 0.094 128.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(74.01, 89.28, 59.22)
Decimal14613945
Display P3color(display-p3 0.871 0.992 0.725)
Web-safe#CCFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #defdb9;
background-color: #defdb9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #defdb9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#defdb9] bg-[#defdb9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #defdb9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.871, green: 0.992, blue: 0.725)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.871, green: 0.992, blue: 0.725, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DEFDB9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDEFDB9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDEFDB9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(185, 253, 222)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(222, 253, 185)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(222, 253, 185)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 222, 253, 185)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8706f, 0.9922f, 0.7255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{222,253,185}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #defdb9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #defdb9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#457C04, #E2EED3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #defdb9 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: #F8FDF2;
  --brand-100: #F1FBE4;
  --brand-200: #defdb9;
  --brand-300: #CBFC92;
  --brand-400: #B2FA5B;
  --brand-500: #98F925;
  --brand-600: #84EE07;
  --brand-700: #6EC606;
  --brand-800: #589F05;
  --brand-900: #427208;
  --brand-950: #294705;
  --brand: #defdb9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8FAF4;
  --brand-border: #D8EDC0;
  --brand-hover: #CEFC96;
  --brand-pressed: #BDFB74;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D2414;
    --brand-ink: #E2EED3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8FDF2',
        100: '#F1FBE4',
        200: '#defdb9',
        300: '#CBFC92',
        400: '#B2FA5B',
        500: '#98F925',
        600: '#84EE07',
        700: '#6EC606',
        800: '#589F05',
        900: '#427208',
        950: '#294705',
        DEFAULT: '#defdb9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8FDF2,
  '100': #F1FBE4,
  '200': #defdb9,
  '300': #CBFC92,
  '400': #B2FA5B,
  '500': #98F925,
  '600': #84EE07,
  '700': #6EC606,
  '800': #589F05,
  '900': #427208,
  '950': #294705,
);
$brand-base: #defdb9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8FDF2", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1FBE4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#defdb9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#CBFC92", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B2FA5B", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#98F925", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#84EE07", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6EC606", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#589F05", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#427208", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#294705", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #defdb9 · 18.86:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.11:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 18.86:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #defdb9 as text scores 1.11:1 on white and 18.86:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #457C04 at 4.56:1.

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
#4A8504 · 4.52:1
AA on white−59% L
#4A8504
The quick fox
#376303 · 7.12:1
AAA on white−66% L
#376303
The quick fox
#defdb9 · 18.86:1
AA on blackalready passes
#defdb9
The quick fox
#defdb9 · 18.86:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#defdb9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #5BA305 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
#defdb9 on white: 1.11:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#defdb9 on black: 18.86:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #defdb9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #defdb9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.11:1AaAa
Slate 501.06:1AaAa
Slate 1001.02:1AaAa
Slate 2001.11:1AaAa
Slate 3001.33:1AaAa
Slate 4002.30:1AaAa
Slate 5004.27:1AaAa
Slate 6006.80:1AaAa
Slate 7009.30:1AaAa
Slate 80013.14:1AaAa
Slate 90016.03:1AaAa
Black18.86:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #FFF4B5
deuteranopia · #FFF2BC
tritanopia · #E1F7EB

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. #defdb9 is pinned to step 200; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8FDF2
#F1FBE4
#defdb9
#CBFC92
#B2FA5B
#98F925
#84EE07
#6EC606
#589F05
#427208
#294705
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F8FDF2Darkest = 950 · #294705Text 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 0.023 128.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.038 128.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.056 128.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.073 128.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.086 128.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.094 128.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.094 128.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.088 128.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.079 128.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.066 128.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.052 128.0);
}

Colors that work with #defdb9

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#D8EDC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#769B4B
Captions on the surface
Accent#2B03C9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#457C04
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3FEE6
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D2414
Dark-mode background
Hover#CEFC96
One step down in lightness
Pressed#BDFB74
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E7FFCB
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 #defdb9

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
  • 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 #457C04
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #5BA305

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.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

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

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight14/100
  • 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#D8B9FD
Analogous left#FDFAB9
Analogous right#BCFDB9
Split-complement 1#B9BCFD
Split-complement 2#FAB9FD
Triadic 1#B9DEFD
Triadic 2#FDB9DE
Tetradic#B9FDFA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°87°

#defdb9 sits at 87°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.1%
Green99.2%
Blue72.5%
R · 0–255
222
0xde
G · 0–255
253
0xfd
B · 0–255
185
0xb9

CMYK percentages

Cyan12.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow26.9%
Key (black)0.8%

Total ink coverage is 40%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#defdb9 text on a black background

contrast 18.86:1

Card sample

#defdb9 text on a white background

contrast 1.11:1

Card sample

#defdb9 on grey

1.02:1

#defdb9 on its own surface

1.06:1

#defdb9 on its dark surface

14.34:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #defdb9;
Background color
Panel with #defdb9 background
background-color: #defdb9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #defdb9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(222, 253, 185, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(222, 253, 185, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #defdb9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #defdb9, #B9FDC1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #defdb9, #B9FDD2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #defdb9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #defdb9;
caret-color: #defdb9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #defdb9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3FEE6;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #defdb9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#defdb9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #defdb9 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(222, 253, 185, 0.5)
rgb(222 253 185 / 50%)
#defdb980
hsl(87 94% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #defdb9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#defdb91a#FCFFF8
20%#defdb933#F8FFF1
40%#defdb966#F2FEE3
60%#defdb999#EBFED5
80%#defdb9cc#E5FDC7

Gradients from #defdb9

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, #F6FEEB, #defdb9 45%, #457C04);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #defdb9, #9BFCAF);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #defdb9, #D8B9FD);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8FFF0 0%, #defdb9 45%, #457C04 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%, #FEFCEB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #D7FED8 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #457C04 0%, transparent 65%), #defdb9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #defdb9

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.

#defdb9 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

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

On screens

Very light values are indistinguishable from white on a dim phone screen outdoors. Give it a border if the boundary matters.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 18.86:1.

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.

#defdb9, answered

What color is #defdb9?

#defdb9 is a pale electric green, closest to Light Goldenrod Yellow (ΔE2000 9.5). It sits at 87° on the hue wheel with 94% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #defdb9?

rgb(222, 253, 185) — 222 red, 253 green and 185 blue out of 255, or 87.1% / 99.2% / 72.5% by channel.

What is #defdb9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(87, 94%, 86%) and hsv(87, 27%, 99%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #defdb9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8928 and perceived brightness is 93%, so black text on it reaches 18.86:1.

Should I use black or white text on #defdb9?

Black. It scores 18.86:1 against #defdb9, versus 1.11:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #defdb9 accessible on a white background?

#defdb9 on white scores 1.11:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #4A8504 to reach 4.5:1, or #376303 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #defdb9?

#D8B9FD sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B9BCFD and #FAB9FD, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #defdb9?

For interface work: #F8FAF4 as the surface, #D8EDC0 for borders, #769B4B for secondary text, #2B03C9 as an accent and #457C04 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #FDFAB9 and #BCFDB9 stays calm, while #D8B9FD is the loudest partner.

What is #defdb9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(12%, 0%, 27%, 1%). 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 #defdb9 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 48 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F7FDB9; nudged cooler, #C5FEB8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #defdb9?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 19 away. That is a visible difference, so define #defdb9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #defdb9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#defdb9] or text-[#defdb9], 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 #defdb9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(222, 253, 185, 0.5), or #defdb980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFFEDC; over black, #6F7F5D.

Is #defdb9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFCC, ΔE2000 6.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #defdb9 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 chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #defdb9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6FEEB, #defdb9 45%, #457C04). For more colour, a short hue run to #9BFCAF keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #defdb9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #defdb9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.