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yellow · warm

#dfd9cb

a light, soft yellow · warm · closest name: Antique White

Token name suggestion: Meadow Straw

RGB
223, 217, 203
HSL
42°, 24%, 84%
CMYK
0, 3, 9, 13
Luminance
0.6963

#dfd9cb is a light soft yellow, 42° on the wheel and 23/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (14.93:1). As text it scores 1.41:1 on white — use #837451 instead. Nearest name is Antique White, nearest Tailwind family is yellow.

hsl(42 24% 84%)rgb(223 217 203)Base step 200AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #dfd9cb is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#dfd9cb
Hue
42°
yellow
Saturation
24%
soft
Lightness
84%
light
Brightness
87%
HSV value
Perceived
85%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6963
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
23/100 cool
Color family
Yellow
Tone
Soft
Best ink
Black
14.93:1
Closest name
Antique White
ΔE2000 5.8
Chroma
7.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.886
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
yellow
500 · ΔE 25.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue42° of 360°
Saturation24%
Lightness84%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #dfd9cb.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool23% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red23%
Green71%
Blue6%

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

Every format

HEX#dfd9cb
HEX (8-digit)#dfd9cbff
RGBrgb(223, 217, 203)
RGBArgba(223, 217, 203, 1)
HSLhsl(42, 24%, 84%)
HSV / HSBhsv(42, 9%, 87%)
HWBhwb(42 80% 13%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 3%, 9%, 13%)
LABlab(86.8 -0.3 7.6)
LCHlch(86.8 7.6 92.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.886 0.020 87.5)
XYZ (D65)xyz(66.02, 69.63, 66.45)
Decimal14670283
Display P3color(display-p3 0.875 0.851 0.796)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #dfd9cb;
background-color: #dfd9cb;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #dfd9cb;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#dfd9cb] bg-[#dfd9cb]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #dfd9cb;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.875, green: 0.851, blue: 0.796)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.875, green: 0.851, blue: 0.796, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#DFD9CB</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFDFD9CB)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFDFD9CB)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(203, 217, 223)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(223, 217, 203)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(223, 217, 203)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 223, 217, 203)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8745f, 0.8510f, 0.7961f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{223,217,203}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd9cb 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #dfd9cb 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#4F4631, #E8E3D9);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #dfd9cb 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: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-100: #F3F1ED;
  --brand-200: #dfd9cb;
  --brand-300: #D4CCBA;
  --brand-400: #BFB397;
  --brand-500: #AA9974;
  --brand-600: #98865D;
  --brand-700: #7E704E;
  --brand-800: #65593E;
  --brand-900: #4B4330;
  --brand-950: #2F2A1E;
  --brand: #dfd9cb;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F9F8F6;
  --brand-border: #E0DACC;
  --brand-hover: #D1C9B5;
  --brand-pressed: #C4B99F;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #231F15;
    --brand-ink: #E8E3D9;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F9F8F6',
        100: '#F3F1ED',
        200: '#dfd9cb',
        300: '#D4CCBA',
        400: '#BFB397',
        500: '#AA9974',
        600: '#98865D',
        700: '#7E704E',
        800: '#65593E',
        900: '#4B4330',
        950: '#2F2A1E',
        DEFAULT: '#dfd9cb',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F9F8F6,
  '100': #F3F1ED,
  '200': #dfd9cb,
  '300': #D4CCBA,
  '400': #BFB397,
  '500': #AA9974,
  '600': #98865D,
  '700': #7E704E,
  '800': #65593E,
  '900': #4B4330,
  '950': #2F2A1E,
);
$brand-base: #dfd9cb;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F9F8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F3F1ED", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#dfd9cb", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#D4CCBA", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#BFB397", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#AA9974", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#98865D", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#7E704E", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#65593E", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#4B4330", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#2F2A1E", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #dfd9cb · 14.93:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.41:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 14.93:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #dfd9cb as text scores 1.41:1 on white and 14.93:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #4F4631 at 6.62:1.

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
#837451 · 4.58:1
AA on white−42% L
#837451
The quick fox
#63583D · 7.01:1
AAA on white−52% L
#63583D
The quick fox
#dfd9cb · 14.93:1
AA on blackalready passes
#dfd9cb
The quick fox
#dfd9cb · 14.93:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#dfd9cb

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #A39169 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
#dfd9cb on white: 1.41:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#dfd9cb on black: 14.93:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #dfd9cb as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #dfd9cb.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.41:1AaAa
Slate 501.34:1AaAa
Slate 1001.28:1AaAa
Slate 2001.14:1AaAa
Slate 3001.06:1AaAa
Slate 4001.82:1AaAa
Slate 5003.38:1AaAa
Slate 6005.39:1AaAa
Slate 7007.36:1AaAa
Slate 80010.40:1AaAa
Slate 90012.69:1AaAa
Black14.93:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #DDD8CA
deuteranopia · #DEDACB
tritanopia · #E3D7D5

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. #dfd9cb 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.

#F9F8F6
#F3F1ED
#dfd9cb
#D4CCBA
#BFB397
#AA9974
#98865D
#7E704E
#65593E
#4B4330
#2F2A1E
Base = 200Lightest = 50 · #F9F8F6Darkest = 950 · #2F2A1EText step on white = 700
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 0.005 87.5);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.008 87.5);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.012 87.5);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.016 87.5);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.018 87.5);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.020 87.5);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.020 87.5);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.019 87.5);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.017 87.5);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.014 87.5);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.011 87.5);
}

Colors that work with #dfd9cb

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#F9F8F6
Tinted page background
Border#E0DACC
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#8E7E57
Captions on the surface
Accent#496883
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#4F4631
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F5F3EF
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#231F15
Dark-mode background
Hover#D1C9B5
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C4B99F
Two steps down
Disabled#F7F6F3
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#EAE3D4
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 #dfd9cb

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
  • Thin strokes and 1px borders — they disappear on light UI
  • 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 #4F4631
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #A39169

Meaning and mood

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

optimisticalertcheap-and-cheerfulvisible

The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail.

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

Almost never passes contrast against white. Treat it as a surface or a marker, not as text.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyMedium
  • Weight17/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

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#CBD1DF
Analogous left#DFCFCB
Analogous right#DBDFCB
Split-complement 1#CBDBDF
Split-complement 2#CFCBDF
Triadic 1#CBDFD9
Triadic 2#D9CBDF
Tetradic#CBDFCF
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°42°

#dfd9cb sits at 42°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red87.5%
Green85.1%
Blue79.6%
R · 0–255
223
0xdf
G · 0–255
217
0xd9
B · 0–255
203
0xcb

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.7%
Yellow9.0%
Key (black)12.5%

Total ink coverage is 24%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#dfd9cb text on a black background

contrast 14.93:1

Card sample

#dfd9cb text on a white background

contrast 1.41:1

Card sample

#dfd9cb on grey

1.28:1

#dfd9cb on its own surface

1.33:1

#dfd9cb on its dark surface

11.68:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #dfd9cb;
Background color
Panel with #dfd9cb background
background-color: #dfd9cb;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #dfd9cb;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(223, 217, 203, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(223, 217, 203, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #dfd9cb;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #dfd9cb, #D8DFCB);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd9cb, #D3DFCB);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #dfd9cb;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #dfd9cb;
caret-color: #dfd9cb;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #dfd9cb;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F5F3EF;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #dfd9cb;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#dfd9cb 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #dfd9cb 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(223, 217, 203, 0.5)
rgb(223 217 203 / 50%)
#dfd9cb80
hsl(42 24% 84% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #dfd9cb 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#dfd9cb1a#FCFBFA
20%#dfd9cb33#F9F7F5
40%#dfd9cb66#F2F0EA
60%#dfd9cb99#ECE8E0
80%#dfd9cbcc#E5E1D5

Gradients from #dfd9cb

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, #F6F5F1, #dfd9cb 45%, #4F4631);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #dfd9cb, #C7D3B8);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #dfd9cb, #CBD1DF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F9F8F6 0%, #dfd9cb 45%, #4F4631 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F9F8F6, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F2EBEA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #E7EBDE 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #4F4631 0%, transparent 65%), #dfd9cb;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #dfd9cb

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.

#dfd9cb in the real world

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

Industries
RetailLeisureEnergyWarning systems
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 14.93:1.

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.

#dfd9cb, answered

What color is #dfd9cb?

#dfd9cb is a light soft yellow, closest to Antique White (ΔE2000 5.8). It sits at 42° on the hue wheel with 24% saturation and 84% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #dfd9cb?

rgb(223, 217, 203) — 223 red, 217 green and 203 blue out of 255, or 87.5% / 85.1% / 79.6% by channel.

What is #dfd9cb in HSL and HSV?

hsl(42, 24%, 84%) and hsv(42, 9%, 87%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #dfd9cb a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6963 and perceived brightness is 85%, so black text on it reaches 14.93:1.

Should I use black or white text on #dfd9cb?

Black. It scores 14.93:1 against #dfd9cb, versus 1.41:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #dfd9cb accessible on a white background?

#dfd9cb on white scores 1.41:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #837451 to reach 4.5:1, or #63583D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #dfd9cb?

#CBD1DF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #CBDBDF and #CFCBDF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #dfd9cb?

For interface work: #F9F8F6 as the surface, #E0DACC for borders, #8E7E57 for secondary text, #496883 as an accent and #4F4631 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #DFCFCB and #DBDFCB stays calm, while #CBD1DF is the loudest partner.

What is #dfd9cb in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 3%, 9%, 13%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #dfd9cb warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 23 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #DFD4CB; nudged cooler, #DEE0CA.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #dfd9cb?

The yellow family — its 500 step is #eab308, ΔE2000 25.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #dfd9cb as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #dfd9cb in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#dfd9cb] or text-[#dfd9cb], 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 #dfd9cb with 50% opacity?

rgba(223, 217, 203, 0.5), or #dfd9cb80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #EFECE5; over black, #706D66.

Is #dfd9cb a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 7.2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #dfd9cb mean?

As a yellow, it reads optimistic, alert, cheap-and-cheerful. The most visible hue at low light levels, which is why it owns warnings, hazard tape and value retail. At this moderate chroma the association is present but not shouted.

What gradient works with #dfd9cb?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F6F5F1, #dfd9cb 45%, #4F4631). For more colour, a short hue run to #C7D3B8 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #dfd9cb in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #dfd9cb at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.