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green · neutral

#cbdbb9

a light, soft green · neutral · closest name: Light Goldenrod Yellow

Token name suggestion: Linen Basil

RGB
203, 219, 185
HSL
88°, 32%, 79%
CMYK
7, 0, 16, 14
Luminance
0.6686

#cbdbb9 is a light soft green, 88° on the wheel and 49/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.37:1). As text it scores 1.46:1 on white — use #617D40 instead. Nearest name is Light Goldenrod Yellow, nearest Tailwind family is lime.

hsl(88 32% 79%)rgb(203 219 185)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cbdbb9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cbdbb9
Hue
88°
green
Saturation
32%
soft
Lightness
79%
light
Brightness
86%
HSV value
Perceived
83%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6686
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
49/100 cool
Color family
Green
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.37:1
Closest name
Light Goldenrod Yellow
ΔE2000 9.3
Chroma
18.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.870
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
lime
500 · ΔE 21.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue88° of 360°
Saturation32%
Lightness79%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cbdbb9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool49% 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%
Green76%
Blue5%

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

Every format

HEX#cbdbb9
HEX (8-digit)#cbdbb9ff
RGBrgb(203, 219, 185)
RGBArgba(203, 219, 185, 1)
HSLhsl(88, 32%, 79%)
HSV / HSBhsv(88, 16%, 86%)
HWBhwb(88 73% 14%)
CMYKcmyk(7%, 0%, 16%, 14%)
LABlab(85.4 -11.4 14.9)
LCHlch(85.4 18.8 127.3)
OKLCHoklch(0.870 0.049 128.0)
XYZ (D65)xyz(58.72, 66.86, 55.70)
Decimal13360057
Display P3color(display-p3 0.796 0.859 0.725)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cbdbb9;
background-color: #cbdbb9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cbdbb9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cbdbb9] bg-[#cbdbb9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cbdbb9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.796, green: 0.859, blue: 0.725)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.796, green: 0.859, blue: 0.725, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CBDBB9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCBDBB9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCBDBB9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(185, 219, 203)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(203, 219, 185)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(203, 219, 185)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 203, 219, 185)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.7961f, 0.8588f, 0.7255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{203,219,185}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cbdbb9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cbdbb9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#41542B, #E1EAD7);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cbdbb9 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: #F7F9F5;
  --brand-100: #F0F4EC;
  --brand-200: #DEE7D4;
  --brand-300: #cbdbb9;
  --brand-400: #ACC690;
  --brand-500: #91B36B;
  --brand-600: #7DA253;
  --brand-700: #688745;
  --brand-800: #536C37;
  --brand-900: #3E4F2B;
  --brand-950: #27321B;
  --brand: #cbdbb9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7FAF5;
  --brand-border: #D7E3C9;
  --brand-hover: #B9CFA1;
  --brand-pressed: #A8C38A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1D2414;
    --brand-ink: #E1EAD7;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F9F5',
        100: '#F0F4EC',
        200: '#DEE7D4',
        300: '#cbdbb9',
        400: '#ACC690',
        500: '#91B36B',
        600: '#7DA253',
        700: '#688745',
        800: '#536C37',
        900: '#3E4F2B',
        950: '#27321B',
        DEFAULT: '#cbdbb9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F9F5,
  '100': #F0F4EC,
  '200': #DEE7D4,
  '300': #cbdbb9,
  '400': #ACC690,
  '500': #91B36B,
  '600': #7DA253,
  '700': #688745,
  '800': #536C37,
  '900': #3E4F2B,
  '950': #27321B,
);
$brand-base: #cbdbb9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F9F5", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0F4EC", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DEE7D4", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cbdbb9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ACC690", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#91B36B", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#7DA253", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#688745", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#536C37", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#3E4F2B", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#27321B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cbdbb9 · 14.37:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.46:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.37:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cbdbb9 as text scores 1.46:1 on white and 14.37:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #41542B at 5.69:1.

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
#617D40 · 4.65:1
AA on white−42% L
#617D40
The quick fox
#495F31 · 7.08:1
AAA on white−51% L
#495F31
The quick fox
#cbdbb9 · 14.37:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cbdbb9
The quick fox
#cbdbb9 · 14.37:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cbdbb9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #7B9F52 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
#cbdbb9 on white: 1.46:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cbdbb9 on black: 14.37:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cbdbb9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cbdbb9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.46:1AaAa
Slate 501.40:1AaAa
Slate 1001.33:1AaAa
Slate 2001.19:1AaAa
Slate 3001.02:1AaAa
Slate 4001.75:1AaAa
Slate 5003.26:1AaAa
Slate 6005.19:1AaAa
Slate 7007.09:1AaAa
Slate 80010.01:1AaAa
Slate 90012.22:1AaAa
Black14.37:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DFD6B7
deuteranopia · #DCD5BA
tritanopia · #CDD8D1

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. #cbdbb9 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.

#F7F9F5
#F0F4EC
#DEE7D4
#cbdbb9
#ACC690
#91B36B
#7DA253
#688745
#536C37
#3E4F2B
#27321B
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F7F9F5Darkest = 950 · #27321BText 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 0.012 128.0);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.020 128.0);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.029 128.0);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.038 128.0);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.045 128.0);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.049 128.0);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.049 128.0);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.046 128.0);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.041 128.0);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.034 128.0);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.027 128.0);
}

Colors that work with #cbdbb9

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#F7FAF5
Tinted page background
Border#D7E3C9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#75984E
Captions on the surface
Accent#51418B
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#41542B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F2F6EE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1D2414
Dark-mode background
Hover#B9CFA1
One step down in lightness
Pressed#A8C38A
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F7F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#D5E6C2
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 #cbdbb9

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 #41542B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #7B9F52

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
  • Weight21/100
  • 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#C9B9DB
Analogous left#DBDAB9
Analogous right#BADBB9
Split-complement 1#B9BADB
Split-complement 2#DAB9DB
Triadic 1#B9CBDB
Triadic 2#DBB9CB
Tetradic#B9DBDA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°88°

#cbdbb9 sits at 88°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red79.6%
Green85.9%
Blue72.5%
R · 0–255
203
0xcb
G · 0–255
219
0xdb
B · 0–255
185
0xb9

CMYK percentages

Cyan7.3%
Magenta0.0%
Yellow15.5%
Key (black)14.1%

Total ink coverage is 37%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cbdbb9 text on a black background

contrast 14.37:1

Card sample

#cbdbb9 text on a white background

contrast 1.46:1

Card sample

#cbdbb9 on grey

1.33:1

#cbdbb9 on its own surface

1.39:1

#cbdbb9 on its dark surface

10.93:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cbdbb9;
Background color
Panel with #cbdbb9 background
background-color: #cbdbb9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cbdbb9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(203, 219, 185, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(203, 219, 185, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cbdbb9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cbdbb9, #B9DBBE);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbdbb9, #B9DBC6);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cbdbb9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cbdbb9;
caret-color: #cbdbb9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cbdbb9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F2F6EE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cbdbb9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cbdbb9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cbdbb9 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(203, 219, 185, 0.5)
rgb(203 219 185 / 50%)
#cbdbb980
hsl(88 32% 79% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cbdbb9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cbdbb91a#FAFBF8
20%#cbdbb933#F5F8F1
40%#cbdbb966#EAF1E3
60%#cbdbb999#E0E9D5
80%#cbdbb9cc#D5E2C7

Gradients from #cbdbb9

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, #E9F0E1, #cbdbb9 45%, #41542B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cbdbb9, #A5D1AE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cbdbb9, #C9B9DB);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7FAF5 0%, #cbdbb9 45%, #41542B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7FAF5, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #ECEADB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #CDE5CE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #41542B 0%, transparent 65%), #cbdbb9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cbdbb9

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.

#cbdbb9 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 14.37:1.

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.

#cbdbb9, answered

What color is #cbdbb9?

#cbdbb9 is a light soft green, closest to Light Goldenrod Yellow (ΔE2000 9.3). It sits at 88° on the hue wheel with 32% saturation and 79% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #cbdbb9?

rgb(203, 219, 185) — 203 red, 219 green and 185 blue out of 255, or 79.6% / 85.9% / 72.5% by channel.

What is #cbdbb9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(88, 32%, 79%) and hsv(88, 16%, 86%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cbdbb9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6686 and perceived brightness is 83%, so black text on it reaches 14.37:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cbdbb9?

Black. It scores 14.37:1 against #cbdbb9, versus 1.46:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cbdbb9 accessible on a white background?

#cbdbb9 on white scores 1.46:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #617D40 to reach 4.5:1, or #495F31 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cbdbb9?

#C9B9DB sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #B9BADB and #DAB9DB, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cbdbb9?

For interface work: #F7FAF5 as the surface, #D7E3C9 for borders, #75984E for secondary text, #51418B as an accent and #41542B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DBDAB9 and #BADBB9 stays calm, while #C9B9DB is the loudest partner.

What is #cbdbb9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(7%, 0%, 16%, 14%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cbdbb9 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 49 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D7DBB9; nudged cooler, #BEDCB8.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cbdbb9?

The lime family — its 500 step is #84cc16, ΔE2000 21.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cbdbb9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cbdbb9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cbdbb9] or text-[#cbdbb9], 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 #cbdbb9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(203, 219, 185, 0.5), or #cbdbb980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E5EDDC; over black, #666E5D.

Is #cbdbb9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 15.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cbdbb9 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 #cbdbb9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #E9F0E1, #cbdbb9 45%, #41542B). For more colour, a short hue run to #A5D1AE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cbdbb9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cbdbb9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.