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violet · neutral

#c9becc

a light, muted violet · neutral · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Morning Thistle

RGB
201, 190, 204
HSL
287°, 12%, 77%
CMYK
2, 7, 0, 20
Luminance
0.5360

#c9becc is a light muted violet, 287° on the wheel and 52/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (11.72:1). As text it scores 1.79:1 on white — use #846C8A instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is zinc.

hsl(287 12% 77%)rgb(201 190 204)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c9becc is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c9becc
Hue
287°
violet
Saturation
12%
muted
Lightness
77%
light
Brightness
80%
HSV value
Perceived
76%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5360
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
52/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
11.72:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 6.3
Chroma
8.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.815
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
zinc
500 · ΔE 26.1
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue287° of 360°
Saturation12%
Lightness77%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c9becc.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool52% 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
Red23%
Green69%
Blue8%

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

Every format

HEX#c9becc
HEX (8-digit)#c9beccff
RGBrgb(201, 190, 204)
RGBArgba(201, 190, 204, 1)
HSLhsl(287, 12%, 77%)
HSV / HSBhsv(287, 7%, 80%)
HWBhwb(287 75% 20%)
CMYKcmyk(2%, 7%, 0%, 20%)
LABlab(78.2 6.4 -5.6)
LCHlch(78.2 8.5 318.7)
OKLCHoklch(0.815 0.023 319.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.40, 53.60, 64.65)
Decimal13221580
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.745 0.800)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c9becc;
background-color: #c9becc;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c9becc;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c9becc] bg-[#c9becc]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c9becc;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.745, blue: 0.800)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.745, blue: 0.800, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C9BECC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC9BECC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC9BECC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(204, 190, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 190, 204)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 190, 204)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 190, 204)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.7451f, 0.8000f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,190,204}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c9becc 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c9becc 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#443847, #E3DDE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c9becc 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: #F8F7F8;
  --brand-100: #F1EEF1;
  --brand-200: #E0DAE1;
  --brand-300: #c9becc;
  --brand-400: #B1A1B5;
  --brand-500: #97819C;
  --brand-600: #836C89;
  --brand-700: #6D5A72;
  --brand-800: #57485B;
  --brand-900: #413644;
  --brand-950: #29222B;
  --brand: #c9becc;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F6F8;
  --brand-border: #D9D1DB;
  --brand-hover: #B8AABC;
  --brand-pressed: #A896AD;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E191F;
    --brand-ink: #E3DDE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F8',
        100: '#F1EEF1',
        200: '#E0DAE1',
        300: '#c9becc',
        400: '#B1A1B5',
        500: '#97819C',
        600: '#836C89',
        700: '#6D5A72',
        800: '#57485B',
        900: '#413644',
        950: '#29222B',
        DEFAULT: '#c9becc',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F8,
  '100': #F1EEF1,
  '200': #E0DAE1,
  '300': #c9becc,
  '400': #B1A1B5,
  '500': #97819C,
  '600': #836C89,
  '700': #6D5A72,
  '800': #57485B,
  '900': #413644,
  '950': #29222B,
);
$brand-base: #c9becc;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F1EEF1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0DAE1", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#c9becc", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B1A1B5", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#97819C", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#836C89", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6D5A72", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#57485B", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#413644", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#29222B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c9becc · 11.72:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.79:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 11.72:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c9becc as text scores 1.79:1 on white and 11.72:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #443847 at 6.16:1.

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
#846C8A · 4.67:1
AA on white−29% L
#846C8A
The quick fox
#635168 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−41% L
#635168
The quick fox
#c9becc · 11.72:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c9becc
The quick fox
#c9becc · 11.72:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c9becc

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A18EA6 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
#c9becc on white: 1.79:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c9becc on black: 11.72:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c9becc as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c9becc.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.79:1AaAa
Slate 501.71:1AaAa
Slate 1001.64:1AaAa
Slate 2001.45:1AaAa
Slate 3001.21:1AaAa
Slate 4001.43:1AaAa
Slate 5002.66:1AaAa
Slate 6004.23:1AaAa
Slate 7005.78:1AaAa
Slate 8008.16:1AaAa
Slate 9009.96:1AaAa
Black11.72:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #BDC1CD
deuteranopia · #BFC2CB
tritanopia · #C9BFC2

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. #c9becc 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.

#F8F7F8
#F1EEF1
#E0DAE1
#c9becc
#B1A1B5
#97819C
#836C89
#6D5A72
#57485B
#413644
#29222B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F8Darkest = 950 · #29222BText step on white = 600
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 0.006 319.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.009 319.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.014 319.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.018 319.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.021 319.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.023 319.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.023 319.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.021 319.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.019 319.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.016 319.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.013 319.0);
}

Colors that work with #c9becc

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#F8F6F8
Tinted page background
Border#D9D1DB
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7B6581
Captions on the surface
Accent#647656
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#443847
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F1F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E191F
Dark-mode background
Hover#B8AABC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A896AD
Two steps down
Disabled#F6F4F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D5C5DA
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 #c9becc

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

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading 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
  • 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 #443847
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A18EA6

Meaning and mood

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

creativepremiummodernimaginative

Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Deep violets swallow detail on screens with poor gamma; check it on a cheap laptop panel.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • 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#C1CCBE
Analogous left#C2BECC
Analogous right#CCBEC8
Split-complement 1#C8CCBE
Split-complement 2#BECCC2
Triadic 1#CCC9BE
Triadic 2#BECCC9
Tetradic#CCC2BE
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°287°

#c9becc sits at 287°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green74.5%
Blue80.0%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
190
0xbe
B · 0–255
204
0xcc

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.5%
Magenta6.9%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)20.0%

Total ink coverage is 28%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c9becc text on a black background

contrast 11.72:1

Card sample

#c9becc text on a white background

contrast 1.79:1

Card sample

#c9becc on grey

1.64:1

#c9becc on its own surface

1.67:1

#c9becc on its dark surface

9.65:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c9becc;
Background color
Panel with #c9becc background
background-color: #c9becc;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c9becc;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 190, 204, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 190, 204, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c9becc;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c9becc, #CCBEC6);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9becc, #CCBEC2);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c9becc;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c9becc;
caret-color: #c9becc;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c9becc;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F1F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c9becc;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c9becc 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c9becc 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, 190, 204, 0.5)
rgb(201 190 204 / 50%)
#c9becc80
hsl(287 12% 77% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c9becc 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c9becc1a#FAF9FA
20%#c9becc33#F4F2F5
40%#c9becc66#E9E5EB
60%#c9becc99#DFD8E0
80%#c9becccc#D4CBD6

Gradients from #c9becc

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, #E6E0E7, #c9becc 45%, #443847);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c9becc, #BFADB5);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9becc, #C1CCBE);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4F2F4 0%, #c9becc 45%, #443847 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F6F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #DCDBE3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DACFD6 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #443847 0%, transparent 65%), #c9becc;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c9becc

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.

#c9becc in the real world

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

Industries
Creative toolsFintechBeautyLuxury
Common UI roles
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
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 11.72:1.

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.

#c9becc, answered

What color is #c9becc?

#c9becc is a light muted violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 6.3). It sits at 287° on the hue wheel with 12% saturation and 77% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #c9becc?

rgb(201, 190, 204) — 201 red, 190 green and 204 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 74.5% / 80% by channel.

What is #c9becc in HSL and HSV?

hsl(287, 12%, 77%) and hsv(287, 7%, 80%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c9becc a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5360 and perceived brightness is 76%, so black text on it reaches 11.72:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c9becc?

Black. It scores 11.72:1 against #c9becc, versus 1.79:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c9becc accessible on a white background?

#c9becc on white scores 1.79:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #846C8A to reach 4.5:1, or #635168 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c9becc?

#C1CCBE sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C8CCBE and #BECCC2, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c9becc?

For interface work: #F8F6F8 as the surface, #D9D1DB for borders, #7B6581 for secondary text, #647656 as an accent and #443847 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C2BECC and #CCBEC8 stays calm, while #C1CCBE is the loudest partner.

What is #c9becc in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(2%, 7%, 0%, 20%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c9becc warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 52 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #CCBECA; nudged cooler, #C4BDCD.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c9becc?

The zinc family — its 500 step is #71717a, ΔE2000 26.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c9becc as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c9becc in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c9becc] or text-[#c9becc], 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 #c9becc with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 190, 204, 0.5), or #c9becc80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4DFE6; over black, #655F66.

Is #c9becc a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 9.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c9becc mean?

As a violet, it reads creative, premium, modern. Violet sits between the warmth of red and the calm of blue, so it reads as inventive without reading as risky. Current shorthand for software craft. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #c9becc?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E6E0E7, #c9becc 45%, #443847). For more colour, a short hue run to #BFADB5 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c9becc in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c9becc at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.