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green · cool

#c9ebdf

a pale, vivid green · cool · closest name: Light Cyan

Token name suggestion: Mist Basil

RGB
201, 235, 223
HSL
159°, 46%, 86%
CMYK
15, 0, 5, 8
Luminance
0.7716

#c9ebdf is a pale vivid green, 159° on the wheel and 79/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (16.43:1). As text it scores 1.28:1 on white — use #318467 instead. Nearest name is Light Cyan, nearest Tailwind family is teal.

hsl(159 46% 86%)rgb(201 235 223)Base step 200AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #c9ebdf is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#c9ebdf
Hue
159°
green
Saturation
46%
vivid
Lightness
86%
pale
Brightness
92%
HSV value
Perceived
88%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.7716
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
79/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Vivid
Best ink
Black
16.43:1
Closest name
Light Cyan
ΔE2000 7
Chroma
13.5
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.912
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
teal
500 · ΔE 21.1
Web-safe
#CCFFCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue159° of 360°
Saturation46%
Lightness86%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #c9ebdf.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool79% 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
Red16%
Green77%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#c9ebdf
HEX (8-digit)#c9ebdfff
RGBrgb(201, 235, 223)
RGBArgba(201, 235, 223, 1)
HSLhsl(159, 46%, 86%)
HSV / HSBhsv(159, 14%, 92%)
HWBhwb(159 79% 8%)
CMYKcmyk(15%, 0%, 5%, 8%)
LABlab(90.4 -13.4 2.1)
LCHlch(90.4 13.5 171.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.912 0.039 172.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(67.11, 77.16, 81.16)
Decimal13233119
Display P3color(display-p3 0.788 0.922 0.875)
Web-safe#CCFFCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #c9ebdf;
background-color: #c9ebdf;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #c9ebdf;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#c9ebdf] bg-[#c9ebdf]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #c9ebdf;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.788, green: 0.922, blue: 0.875)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.788, green: 0.922, blue: 0.875, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#C9EBDF</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFC9EBDF)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFC9EBDF)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(223, 235, 201)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(201, 235, 223)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(201, 235, 223)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 201, 235, 223)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7882f, 0.9216f, 0.8745f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{201,235,223}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #c9ebdf 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #c9ebdf 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#225D48, #D3EEE4);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #c9ebdf 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: #F5FAF8;
  --brand-100: #EAF5F1;
  --brand-200: #c9ebdf;
  --brand-300: #ADE1CE;
  --brand-400: #84D1B6;
  --brand-500: #5BC29E;
  --brand-600: #42B38B;
  --brand-700: #379574;
  --brand-800: #2C775D;
  --brand-900: #235745;
  --brand-950: #16362B;
  --brand: #c9ebdf;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4FAF8;
  --brand-border: #C3E9DC;
  --brand-hover: #AFE1D0;
  --brand-pressed: #95D8C0;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #14241F;
    --brand-ink: #D3EEE4;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F5FAF8',
        100: '#EAF5F1',
        200: '#c9ebdf',
        300: '#ADE1CE',
        400: '#84D1B6',
        500: '#5BC29E',
        600: '#42B38B',
        700: '#379574',
        800: '#2C775D',
        900: '#235745',
        950: '#16362B',
        DEFAULT: '#c9ebdf',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F5FAF8,
  '100': #EAF5F1,
  '200': #c9ebdf,
  '300': #ADE1CE,
  '400': #84D1B6,
  '500': #5BC29E,
  '600': #42B38B,
  '700': #379574,
  '800': #2C775D,
  '900': #235745,
  '950': #16362B,
);
$brand-base: #c9ebdf;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F5FAF8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#EAF5F1", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#c9ebdf", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#ADE1CE", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#84D1B6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#5BC29E", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#42B38B", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#379574", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#2C775D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#235745", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#16362B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #c9ebdf · 16.43:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.28:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 16.43:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #c9ebdf as text scores 1.28:1 on white and 16.43:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #225D48 at 6.03:1.

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
#318467 · 4.54:1
AA on white−50% L
#318467
The quick fox
#25634D · 7.07:1
AAA on white−59% L
#25634D
The quick fox
#c9ebdf · 16.43:1
AA on blackalready passes
#c9ebdf
The quick fox
#c9ebdf · 16.43:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#c9ebdf

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #3DA681 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
#c9ebdf on white: 1.28:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#c9ebdf on black: 16.43:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #c9ebdf as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #c9ebdf.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.28:1AaAa
Slate 501.22:1AaAa
Slate 1001.17:1AaAa
Slate 2001.04:1AaAa
Slate 3001.16:1AaAa
Slate 4002.01:1AaAa
Slate 5003.72:1AaAa
Slate 6005.93:1AaAa
Slate 7008.10:1AaAa
Slate 80011.45:1AaAa
Slate 90013.97:1AaAa
Black16.43:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #E9E6DE
deuteranopia · #E2E2E0
tritanopia · #C2ECE7

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. #c9ebdf 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.

#F5FAF8
#EAF5F1
#c9ebdf
#ADE1CE
#84D1B6
#5BC29E
#42B38B
#379574
#2C775D
#235745
#16362B
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F5FAF8Darkest = 950 · #16362BText 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 0.010 172.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.016 172.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.023 172.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.030 172.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.036 172.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.039 172.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.039 172.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.037 172.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.033 172.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.027 172.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.022 172.1);
}

Colors that work with #c9ebdf

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#F4FAF8
Tinted page background
Border#C3E9DC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B9B7F
Captions on the surface
Accent#983471
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#225D48
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#ECF8F4
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#14241F
Dark-mode background
Hover#AFE1D0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#95D8C0
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F7F5
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D5F3E9
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 #c9ebdf

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 #225D48
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #3DA681

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.

This is a confident chroma: strong enough to lead a brand, restrained enough to live in an interface all day. 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
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium-high
  • Weight15/100
  • 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#EBC9D5
Analogous left#C9EBCE
Analogous right#C9E6EB
Split-complement 1#EBC9E6
Split-complement 2#EBCEC9
Triadic 1#DFC9EB
Triadic 2#EBDFC9
Tetradic#CEC9EB
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°159°

#c9ebdf sits at 159°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red78.8%
Green92.2%
Blue87.5%
R · 0–255
201
0xc9
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
223
0xdf

CMYK percentages

Cyan14.5%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow5.1%
Key (black)7.8%

Total ink coverage is 27%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#c9ebdf text on a black background

contrast 16.43:1

Card sample

#c9ebdf text on a white background

contrast 1.28:1

Card sample

#c9ebdf on grey

1.17:1

#c9ebdf on its own surface

1.21:1

#c9ebdf on its dark surface

12.62:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #c9ebdf;
Background color
Panel with #c9ebdf background
background-color: #c9ebdf;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #c9ebdf;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(201, 235, 223, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(201, 235, 223, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #c9ebdf;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #c9ebdf, #C9E0EB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9ebdf, #C9D8EB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #c9ebdf;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #c9ebdf;
caret-color: #c9ebdf;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #c9ebdf;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #ECF8F4;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #c9ebdf;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#c9ebdf 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #c9ebdf 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, 235, 223, 0.5)
rgb(201 235 223 / 50%)
#c9ebdf80
hsl(159 46% 86% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #c9ebdf 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#c9ebdf1a#FAFDFC
20%#c9ebdf33#F4FBF9
40%#c9ebdf66#E9F7F2
60%#c9ebdf99#DFF3EC
80%#c9ebdfcc#D4EFE5

Gradients from #c9ebdf

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, #F0F9F6, #c9ebdf 45%, #225D48);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #c9ebdf, #B3D0E3);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #c9ebdf, #EBC9D5);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F4FBF8 0%, #c9ebdf 45%, #225D48 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4FAF8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #EEF9EF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DFEFF3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #225D48 0%, transparent 65%), #c9ebdf;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #c9ebdf

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.

#c9ebdf 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

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 16.43:1.

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.

#c9ebdf, answered

What color is #c9ebdf?

#c9ebdf is a pale vivid green, closest to Light Cyan (ΔE2000 7). It sits at 159° on the hue wheel with 46% saturation and 86% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #c9ebdf?

rgb(201, 235, 223) — 201 red, 235 green and 223 blue out of 255, or 78.8% / 92.2% / 87.5% by channel.

What is #c9ebdf in HSL and HSV?

hsl(159, 46%, 86%) and hsv(159, 14%, 92%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #c9ebdf a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.7716 and perceived brightness is 88%, so black text on it reaches 16.43:1.

Should I use black or white text on #c9ebdf?

Black. It scores 16.43:1 against #c9ebdf, versus 1.28:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #c9ebdf accessible on a white background?

#c9ebdf on white scores 1.28:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #318467 to reach 4.5:1, or #25634D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #c9ebdf?

#EBC9D5 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #EBC9E6 and #EBCEC9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #c9ebdf?

For interface work: #F4FAF8 as the surface, #C3E9DC for borders, #4B9B7F for secondary text, #983471 as an accent and #225D48 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #C9EBCE and #C9E6EB stays calm, while #EBC9D5 is the loudest partner.

What is #c9ebdf in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(15%, 0%, 5%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #c9ebdf warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 79 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #C9EBD3; nudged cooler, #C8EBEC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #c9ebdf?

The teal family — its 500 step is #14b8a6, ΔE2000 21.1 away. That is a visible difference, so define #c9ebdf as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #c9ebdf in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#c9ebdf] or text-[#c9ebdf], 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 #c9ebdf with 50% opacity?

rgba(201, 235, 223, 0.5), or #c9ebdf80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E4F5EF; over black, #657670.

Is #c9ebdf a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCFFCC, ΔE2000 11.9 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #c9ebdf 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 #c9ebdf?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F0F9F6, #c9ebdf 45%, #225D48). For more colour, a short hue run to #B3D0E3 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #c9ebdf in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #c9ebdf at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.