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Searing Tuscan

#cac93f
Notes

Searing Tuscan (#CAC93F) is a true yellow with a warm character. It leans warm, pulling light toward red, orange, and yellow. Naturally inviting, it suits editorial and hospitality contexts. Its HSL profile (60°, 57%, 52%) 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#cac93f
RGB
rgb(202, 201, 63)
HSL
hsl(60, 57%, 52%)
HWB
hwb(60 25% 21%)
OKLCH
oklch(81.2% 0.154 109.0)
HSV
hsv(60, 69%, 79%)
LAB
lab(78.86% -15.92 65.51)
LCH
lch(78.86% 67.42 103.66)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 0%, 69%, 21%)

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.

Tuscan
noun

Of Toscana, the central Italian region whose pale ochre stucco and warm terracotta roofs define a regional palette. The color Tuscan yellow refers to the limewash of Florentine and Sienese palazzo facades — a soft, slightly muted gold that's warmer than cream and lighter than honey. The pigment is the same iron-rich earth that gives sienna its name; mixed with lime, it ages to the patina of half a millennium.

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

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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.

#cac93f
Original
#d9c129
Protanopia
#dbc549
Deuteranopia
#d8bcae
Tritanopia
#bfbfbf
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
1.76:1
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
11.94:1

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