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Searing Bamboo

#8cb837
Notes

Searing Bamboo (#8CB837) is a true lime with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (80°, 54%, 47%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#8cb837
RGB
rgb(140, 184, 55)
HSL
hsl(80, 54%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(80 22% 28%)
OKLCH
oklch(72.6% 0.162 126.6)
HSV
hsv(80, 70%, 72%)
LAB
lab(69.56% -33.58 57.74)
LCH
lch(69.56% 66.79 120.18)
CMYK
cmyk(24%, 0%, 70%, 28%)

Etymology

Searing
adjective

Old English sēarian, to wither — present-participle of sear. As a color modifier, searing implies a saturated-and-burning-touch-hot quality, the bright color of cast-iron-griddle high-heat surface-emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to scorching and blazing in usage.

Bamboo
noun

The subfamily Bambusoideae — fast-growing tropical and temperate grasses essential to East Asian architecture, scaffolding, and cuisine. Bamboo color refers to fresh bamboo culms in a Kyoto garden: a saturated, slightly cool yellow-green with the satin finish of segmented culm. Cooler than yamabuki.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

Click any swatch to explore

Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#8cb837
Original
#c2ac22
Protanopia
#bca942
Deuteranopia
#92af9e
Tritanopia
#a5a5a5
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.33:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
9.03:1

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