Refulgent Maize
Refulgent Maize (#E0C145) is a true amber with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (48°, 71%, 57%) 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.
Etymology
Latin refulgēns, shining-back — present-participle of refulgere, sharing root with fulgor (lightning). As a color modifier, refulgent implies a saturated-and-reflective-shining quality, the bright color of polished-bronze-and-armor reflective-surface mid-day-sun reflection. Sits at the bright-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to effulgent and resplendent in usage.
Zea mays, the New World grass domesticated in the Balsas River valley of Mexico nine thousand years ago — now the largest cereal crop on Earth by yield. The color refers to dried yellow dent corn at harvest: a clean, slightly muted gold-yellow with the matte finish of cured grain. The wider Spanish maíz keeps the original Taíno word; English borrowed it before adopting corn in the United States.
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.