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Color palette for green

No uploadRuns in your browserReviewed October 10, 2026

Short answer

Green is #008000: the CSS color named green, defined by the W3C, written rgb(0, 128, 0) or hsl(120, 100%, 25%). Its complement is #800080; analogous colors are #408000 and #008040; a triad adds #000080 and #800000.

#008000 · rgb(0, 128, 0) · hsl(120, 100%, 25%) · contrast 5.14:1 on white, 4.09:1 on black

Complementary

Analogous

Triadic

Split complementary

Tetradic (rectangle)

Square

Tints (toward white)

Shades (toward black)

CSS variables for the analogous palette
:root {
  --color-1: #408000;
  --color-2: #008000;
  --color-3: #008040;
}

Nothing is uploaded. Click a color to copy its hex code.

Key takeaways

  • Green is #008000, rgb(0, 128, 0), hsl(120, 100%, 25%), CIELAB 46.2, -51.7, 49.9.
  • Contrast: 5.1:1 on white and 4.1:1 on black. White text on green passes the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1.
  • Its complement is #800080; the analogous colors are #408000 and #008040; the triad is #008000, #000080, #800000.
  • 0 of the 9 tints and 9 of the 9 shades have at least 4.5:1 on a white background; the first shade that does is #007300.
  • Photographs rich in green gave #5B9145, #77BD79, #4E9022, #78B752, #2E6C13, #2D5A22; the nearest of their colors to #008000 was 4.8 CIEDE2000 units away.
  • For people with deuteranopia the closest pair in the triad is 13.2 apart, against 41.5 for typical vision.

Measured: a palette for green, from photographs

On white it has a contrast ratio of 5.1:1 (passes the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text) and on black 4.1:1. A palette extracted from three photographs rich in green (84%, 76% and 41% of their pixels near the hue) came out as #5B9145, #77BD79, #4E9022, #78B752, #2E6C13, #2D5A22.

We searched Wikimedia Commons for green subjects and kept photographs under Creative Commons or public domain licenses. Of 30 candidates we kept the three with the largest share of pixels within 40 degrees of the hue of the color, with saturation of at least 30% and lightness between 15% and 70%. The tool's own palette code (k-means in CIELAB, no random numbers) found five colors in each photograph. The six colors in the table below come from only the pixels inside the color window, from the three photographs, so they are six shades and neighbors of green rather than the whole picture.

Six shades of green found in the three photographs, most common first.
ColorShareNearest CSS nameContrast on whiteContrast on black
#5B914523.4%near olivedrab3.76:15.58:1
#77BD7920.4%near darkseagreen2.25:19.34:1
#4E902218.1%near forestgreen3.94:15.34:1
#78B75216.4%near limegreen2.42:18.69:1
#2E6C1314.2%near darkgreen6.42:13.27:1
#2D5A227.5%near darkgreen8.09:12.60:1

Green appears here as near olivedrab, near darkseagreen, near forestgreen, near limegreen, near darkgreen, near darkgreen. The photo palette is a starting point: colors from a photograph are rarely pure, and the table shows how each performs as text on white and black.

Measured: the photographs

The photographs and the five colors found in each (percent of pixels).
PhotographPhotographer, licensePixels near the hueFive colors
Sempervivum montanum - close upMister rf, CC BY-SA 4.084%#3D7917 30%, #67A12D 25%, #7AA453 23%, #9DBB83 12%, #195009 9%
Kalanchoe laetivirens with viviparousUser:Mattes, CC BY-SA 4.076%#71BD7E 39%, #40823D 26%, #64B554 22%, #353E2C 7%, #76836B 7%
Two Wellington green geckos on leaves close-upPseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain41%#6D9B47 37%, #6F936B 22%, #3F5240 18%, #345D25 15%, #B0C6C1 7%

The photographs are credited with their Wikimedia Commons license. The extracted lists are the exact tool output.

Colors that go with green

Color harmonies built on #008000, with how well each can be told apart (CIEDE2000, higher is easier; about 1 is a just noticeable difference).
HarmonyColorsClosest pair, typical visionProtanopiaDeuteranopiaTritanopia
Complementary#008000, #80008084.756.746.959.0
Analogous#408000, #008000, #0080404.80.72.01.5
Triadic#008000, #000080, #80000041.526.513.230.6
Split complementary#008000, #400080, #80004023.514.321.930.2
Tetradic (rectangle)#008000, #008080, #800080, #80000027.826.513.25.8
Square#008000, #004080, #800080, #80400027.73.15.711.3

The complement, #800080, sits opposite #008000 on the color wheel (hue + 180 degrees); Wikipedia's color scheme article describes analogous schemes as neighbors on the wheel and a triadic scheme as colors 120 and 240 degrees apart. Under protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia the colors are simulated with the Machado model at full severity; a closest pair below about 10 is hard to tell apart.

Green in numbers

Green in the common color notations.
NotationValue
Hex#008000
RGBrgb(0, 128, 0)
HSLhsl(120.0, 100.0%, 25.1%)
CMYK (simple conversion)100%, 0%, 100%, 50%
CIELAB (D65)46.2, -51.7, 49.9
Nearest CSS color namegreen #008000 (exact)
Contrast on white5.14:1
Contrast on black4.09:1

Tints, shades and accessible text

Tints and shades of #008000 in 10% steps, with contrast on a white background.
StepTint (toward white)Contrast on whiteShade (toward black)Contrast on white
10%#1A8D1A4.31:1#0073006.08:1
20%#3399333.66:1#0066007.24:1
30%#4DA64D3.05:1#005A008.53:1
40%#66B3662.56:1#004D0010.19:1
50%#80C0802.15:1#00400012.12:1
60%#99CC991.83:1#00330014.25:1
70%#B3D9B31.56:1#00260016.44:1
80%#CCE6CC1.33:1#001A0018.30:1
90%#E6F2E61.15:1#000D0019.86:1

0 tints and 9 shades reach 4.5:1 against white. The WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text; criterion 1.4.6 asks for 7:1 for the enhanced level.

Use it in CSS

:root { --green-1: #5b9145; --green-2: #77bd79; --green-3: #4e9022; --green-4: #78b752; --green-5: #2e6c13; --green-6: #2d5a22; }

The complement and analogous colors of #008000: #800080, #408000, #008040.

Free tools:Color palette generatorPalette from an imageImage to textCompress an image

Check the contrast before you use it for text

  • Green #008000 on white: 5.14:1; on black: 4.09:1.
  • The darkest shade in the table, #000D00, reaches 19.86:1 on white.
  • Large text (at least 18 point, or 14 point bold) needs 3:1; normal text needs 4.5:1; the enhanced level needs 7:1.
  • Do not use color as the only way to tell things apart: about 1 in 12 men have a color vision deficiency.

How the numbers were made

The hex value of green is the W3C CSS named color. Harmonies rotate the hue in HSL and keep saturation and lightness. Contrast follows the WCAG 2 definition with relative luminance. Color differences use CIEDE2000, which Wikipedia notes is designed so that a difference of 1.0 stands for a just noticeable difference. Color blindness is simulated with the matrices of Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes (2009) at severity 1.0. Palette extraction: pixels are grouped into 32 levels per channel and clustered with k-means in CIELAB; the same picture always gives the same palette. The accuracy test on pictures of known colors is on the palette generator page.

Questions people ask

What is the hex code for green?

Green is #008000 (the W3C CSS named color), rgb(0, 128, 0).

What color goes with green?

The complement of #008000 is #800080. Analogous colors are #408000 and #008040; a triad is #008000, #000080, #800000.

Is #008000 accessible for text?

On white it has 5.14:1 and on black 4.09:1. The WCAG AA minimum for normal text is 4.5:1, so white text on #008000 passes.

Can people with color blindness tell the green palette apart?

For the six colors of the photo palette, the closest pair is 4.9 apart for typical vision and 4.9 for deuteranopia (CIEDE2000; below about 10 is hard).

How was the palette made?

The tool found the dominant colors of the photographs with k-means clustering in CIELAB. It runs in your browser; you can do the same with your own picture on the palette from image page.

Can I use these colors commercially?

Colors themselves are not licensed. The photographs used to find them keep their Creative Commons licenses, shown in the table.

Can I get a palette from my own photo?

Yes. Use the palette from an image tool; nothing is uploaded.

How many colors should a palette have?

Many designs use five: one dominant, one or two supporting, one accent and a neutral. The tool lets you choose 3 to 10 when you extract from a picture.

What is the difference between tints and shades?

A tint mixes the color with white and a shade mixes it with black. The table shows nine of each in steps of 10%.

Related

Sources and how we checked

  1. W3C: CSS Color Module Level 4 (named colors) (read 2026-10-10)
  2. W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) (read 2026-10-10)
  3. W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.6, Contrast (Enhanced) (read 2026-10-10)
  4. Wikipedia: Color scheme (read 2026-10-10)
  5. Wikipedia: Color difference (CIEDE2000) (read 2026-10-10)
  6. Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes: A physiologically-based model for simulation of color vision deficiency (2009) (read 2026-10-10)
  7. Wikimedia Commons (the photographs, under the licenses shown) (read 2026-10-10)

Reviewed October 10, 2026. The palettes were found with the tool's own code from Creative Commons photographs; contrast, harmonies and color differences are computed. The files and results are in data/seo/hub/evidence/2026-10-10/palette.