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Sterile Kuri

#ebc85f
Notes

Sterile Kuri (#EBC85F) 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 (45°, 78%, 65%) 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 blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#ebc85f
RGB
rgb(235, 200, 95)
HSL
hsl(45, 78%, 65%)
HWB
hwb(45 37% 8%)
OKLCH
oklch(84.3% 0.130 91.0)
HSV
hsv(45, 60%, 92%)
LAB
lab(81.73% 0.36 56.02)
LCH
lch(81.73% 56.03 89.63)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 15%, 60%, 8%)

Etymology

Sterile
adjective

Latin sterilis, barren / not-fertile — sharing root with Greek steiros (barren). As a color modifier, sterile implies a clear-and-medical-clean-and-stripped quality, the crisp color of operating-theater surgical-environment white-and-stainless-steel surfaces. Sits at the crisp-and-clean end of the grid, parallel to sanitary and hygienic in usage.

Kuri
noun

The Japanese chestnut — Castanea crenata — a culinary and ornamental tree across Japan. Kuri-iro (chestnut color) refers to the warm brown of roasted chestnut shells. The color refers to freshly roasted kuri in autumn: a soft, slightly muted warm brown with the matte finish of toasted nut. Drier than caramel, warmer than walnut.

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.

#ebc85f
Original
#dbc554
Protanopia
#e4cf63
Deuteranopia
#fdbab1
Tritanopia
#c8c8c8
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
1.62:1
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
12.96:1

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