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violet · cool

#cab2db

a light, soft violet · cool · closest name: Thistle

Token name suggestion: Meadow Thistle

RGB
202, 178, 219
HSL
275°, 36%, 78%
CMYK
8, 19, 0, 14
Luminance
0.4951

#cab2db is a light soft violet, 275° on the wheel and 64/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (10.90:1). As text it scores 1.93:1 on white — use #9362B6 instead. Nearest name is Thistle, nearest Tailwind family is fuchsia.

hsl(275 36% 78%)rgb(202 178 219)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cab2db is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cab2db
Hue
275°
violet
Saturation
36%
soft
Lightness
78%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.4951
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
64/100 cool
Color family
Violet
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
10.90:1
Closest name
Thistle
ΔE2000 5.9
Chroma
23.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.797
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
fuchsia
500 · ΔE 24.8
Web-safe
#CC99CC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue275° of 360°
Saturation36%
Lightness78%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cab2db.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool64% 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
Red25%
Green64%
Blue10%

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

Every format

HEX#cab2db
HEX (8-digit)#cab2dbff
RGBrgb(202, 178, 219)
RGBArgba(202, 178, 219, 1)
HSLhsl(275, 36%, 78%)
HSV / HSBhsv(275, 19%, 86%)
HWBhwb(275 70% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(8%, 19%, 0%, 14%)
LABlab(75.8 16.1 -17.4)
LCHlch(75.8 23.8 312.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.797 0.063 311.2)
XYZ (D65)xyz(53.06, 49.51, 73.77)
Decimal13284059
Display P3color(display-p3 0.792 0.698 0.859)
Web-safe#CC99CC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cab2db;
background-color: #cab2db;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cab2db;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cab2db] bg-[#cab2db]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cab2db;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.859)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.792, green: 0.698, blue: 0.859, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CAB2DB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCAB2DB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCAB2DB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(219, 178, 202)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(202, 178, 219)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(202, 178, 219)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 202, 178, 219)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7922f, 0.6980f, 0.8588f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{202,178,219}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cab2db 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cab2db 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#442957, #E2D5EC);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cab2db 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: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-100: #F0EBF4;
  --brand-200: #E0D3E8;
  --brand-300: #cab2db;
  --brand-400: #B08CC9;
  --brand-500: #9666B8;
  --brand-600: #824EA7;
  --brand-700: #6C418B;
  --brand-800: #57346F;
  --brand-900: #412952;
  --brand-950: #281933;
  --brand: #cab2db;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F5FA;
  --brand-border: #D9C7E5;
  --brand-hover: #B99AD0;
  --brand-pressed: #A881C4;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D1424;
    --brand-ink: #E2D5EC;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F5FA',
        100: '#F0EBF4',
        200: '#E0D3E8',
        300: '#cab2db',
        400: '#B08CC9',
        500: '#9666B8',
        600: '#824EA7',
        700: '#6C418B',
        800: '#57346F',
        900: '#412952',
        950: '#281933',
        DEFAULT: '#cab2db',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F5FA,
  '100': #F0EBF4,
  '200': #E0D3E8,
  '300': #cab2db,
  '400': #B08CC9,
  '500': #9666B8,
  '600': #824EA7,
  '700': #6C418B,
  '800': #57346F,
  '900': #412952,
  '950': #281933,
);
$brand-base: #cab2db;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F5FA", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EBF4", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0D3E8", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cab2db", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B08CC9", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#9666B8", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#824EA7", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C418B", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#57346F", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#412952", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#281933", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cab2db · 10.90:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.93:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 10.90:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cab2db as text scores 1.93:1 on white and 10.90:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #442957 at 6.41:1.

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
#9362B6 · 4.50:1
AA on white−23% L
#9362B6
The quick fox
#714491 · 7.15:1
AAA on white−36% L
#714491
The quick fox
#cab2db · 10.90:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cab2db
The quick fox
#cab2db · 10.90:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cab2db

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #AB85C6 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
#cab2db on white: 1.93:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cab2db on black: 10.90:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cab2db as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cab2db.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.93:1AaAa
Slate 501.84:1AaAa
Slate 1001.76:1AaAa
Slate 2001.56:1AaAa
Slate 3001.30:1AaAa
Slate 4001.33:1AaAa
Slate 5002.47:1AaAa
Slate 6003.93:1AaAa
Slate 7005.38:1AaAa
Slate 8007.59:1AaAa
Slate 9009.27:1AaAa
Black10.90:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #ACB9DD
deuteranopia · #B1BBDA
tritanopia · #C8B7C0

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. #cab2db 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.

#F8F5FA
#F0EBF4
#E0D3E8
#cab2db
#B08CC9
#9666B8
#824EA7
#6C418B
#57346F
#412952
#281933
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F5FADarkest = 950 · #281933Text 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 0.016 311.2);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.025 311.2);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.038 311.2);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.049 311.2);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.058 311.2);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.063 311.2);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.063 311.2);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.059 311.2);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.053 311.2);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.044 311.2);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.034 311.2);
}

Colors that work with #cab2db

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#F8F5FA
Tinted page background
Border#D9C7E5
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7A4B9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#748F3D
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#442957
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3EEF7
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D1424
Dark-mode background
Hover#B99AD0
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A881C4
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F3F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D4BBE6
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 #cab2db

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
  • 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 #442957
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #AB85C6

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.

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

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

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight22/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • 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#C3DBB2
Analogous left#B5B2DB
Analogous right#DBB2D7
Split-complement 1#D7DBB2
Split-complement 2#B2DBB5
Triadic 1#DBCAB2
Triadic 2#B2DBCA
Tetradic#DBB5B2
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°275°

#cab2db sits at 275°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.2%
Green69.8%
Blue85.9%
R · 0–255
202
0xca
G · 0–255
178
0xb2
B · 0–255
219
0xdb

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.8%
Magenta18.7%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 41%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cab2db text on a black background

contrast 10.90:1

Card sample

#cab2db text on a white background

contrast 1.93:1

Card sample

#cab2db on grey

1.76:1

#cab2db on its own surface

1.78:1

#cab2db on its dark surface

9.26:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cab2db;
Background color
Panel with #cab2db background
background-color: #cab2db;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cab2db;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(202, 178, 219, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(202, 178, 219, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cab2db;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cab2db, #DBB2D1);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab2db, #DBB2C6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cab2db;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cab2db;
caret-color: #cab2db;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cab2db;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3EEF7;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cab2db;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cab2db 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cab2db 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(202, 178, 219, 0.5)
rgb(202 178 219 / 50%)
#cab2db80
hsl(275 36% 78% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cab2db 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cab2db1a#FAF7FB
20%#cab2db33#F4F0F8
40%#cab2db66#EAE0F1
60%#cab2db99#DFD1E9
80%#cab2dbcc#D5C1E2

Gradients from #cab2db

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, #E7DCEE, #cab2db 45%, #442957);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cab2db, #D19DC0);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cab2db, #C3DBB2);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F5F0F8 0%, #cab2db 45%, #442957 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F5FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #D5D5EB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E5C7E0 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #442957 0%, transparent 65%), #cab2db;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cab2db

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.

#cab2db 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
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 10.90:1.

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.

#cab2db, answered

What color is #cab2db?

#cab2db is a light soft violet, closest to Thistle (ΔE2000 5.9). It sits at 275° on the hue wheel with 36% saturation and 78% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #cab2db?

rgb(202, 178, 219) — 202 red, 178 green and 219 blue out of 255, or 79.2% / 69.8% / 85.9% by channel.

What is #cab2db in HSL and HSV?

hsl(275, 36%, 78%) and hsv(275, 19%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cab2db a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.4951 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 10.90:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cab2db?

Black. It scores 10.90:1 against #cab2db, versus 1.93:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cab2db accessible on a white background?

#cab2db on white scores 1.93:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #9362B6 to reach 4.5:1, or #714491 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cab2db?

#C3DBB2 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #D7DBB2 and #B2DBB5, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cab2db?

For interface work: #F8F5FA as the surface, #D9C7E5 for borders, #7A4B9B for secondary text, #748F3D as an accent and #442957 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #B5B2DB and #DBB2D7 stays calm, while #C3DBB2 is the loudest partner.

What is #cab2db in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(8%, 19%, 0%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cab2db warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 64 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D9B2DB; nudged cooler, #BAB1DC.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cab2db?

The fuchsia family — its 500 step is #d946ef, ΔE2000 24.8 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cab2db as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cab2db in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cab2db] or text-[#cab2db], 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 #cab2db with 50% opacity?

rgba(202, 178, 219, 0.5), or #cab2db80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5D9ED; over black, #65596E.

Is #cab2db a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CC99CC, ΔE2000 7.8 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cab2db 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 moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #cab2db?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E7DCEE, #cab2db 45%, #442957). For more colour, a short hue run to #D19DC0 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cab2db in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cab2db at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.