Acid Clove Goldenrod
Acid Clove Goldenrod (#EBB131) 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 (41°, 82%, 56%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary azure. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
Latin acidus, sour — sharing root with English acrid and acerbic. As a color modifier, acid implies a saturated-and-citric-and-zingy quality, the bright color of lemon-and-lime citrus-fruit-flesh and acid-yellow fluorescent-pigment surfaces. Sits at the bright-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to acidic and electric in usage.
Latin clāvus, nail-shaped-aromatic-bud. As a color modifier, clove implies a warm-pungent-and-Indonesian-Spice-Island quality, the visual register of Indonesian-Spice-Island-and-Zanzibar-clove hand-warm-pungent-and-Indonesian-Spice-Island Indonesian-Spice-Island-and-Zanzibar-clove-and-Banda-Islands clove-and-warm-pungent-and-Indonesian-Spice-Island surfaces under Indonesian-Spice-Island-and-Zanzibar-clove-and-Banda-Islands Banda-Islands-and-Zanzibar-and-Maluku Spice-Islands-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to nutmeg and anise in usage.
Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.
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.