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Apricot Tone Faint
Color detail

Apricot Tone Faint

Orange · Hue 40
Metrics
S 10% · L 60%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.7:1Failon black7.7:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Apricot Tone Faint (#A39C8F) belongs to the orange family — hue 40°, 10% saturation, 60% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-apricot-tone-faint: #A39C8F;
  --colorarchive-apricot-tone-faint-hsl: hsl(40, 10%, 60%);
  --colorarchive-apricot-tone-faint-rgb: rgb(163, 156, 143);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

CreativeAdventurousConfident
Common in

Technology · Sports · Travel

Pairs well with

Deep blue for trust + energy balance, dark gray for modern tech aesthetics

Design tip

Use for creative tool brands and action-oriented interfaces. Orange buttons consistently outperform other colors in A/B tests for engagement.

Cultural context ▶

Orange represents creativity and adventure. In the Netherlands, it's the national color. In Hinduism, it symbolizes purity.

Color Origins

Orange family

Citrus, fire, and a color named after a fruit.

Heritage

Orange is unusual: in English the color was named after the fruit, not the other way around — the fruit's name arrived in the 14th century, but until the 16th century this hue was simply 'yellow-red'. Earlier pigments included realgar (toxic), saffron (priceless), and orpiment. Cadmium orange, introduced in the 19th century, gave painters from the Impressionists onward a stable, brilliant orange — though cadmium is itself toxic.

Across cultures

In Hindu and Buddhist tradition saffron orange marks renunciation — the robe of Hindu sannyasis and of Theravada monks. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a national identity color, still worn at football matches and on King's Day. In Ireland, orange is the Protestant counterpart to green's Catholic association — the country's flag literally encodes the divide. Halloween's orange-and-black is a 20th-century American invention that has since gone global.

In the wild

Hermès orange is a brand asset traceable to a 1942 wartime cardboard shortage. Penguin Books color-coded its early paperbacks by genre — orange meant general fiction. Nickelodeon, Fanta, and easyJet all use orange, which reads playful and consumer-friendly while staying outside the more crowded red and yellow lanes. NASA's shuttle-era launch-and-entry suits were International Orange so rescue crews could spot astronauts after a bailout over the ocean.

How it reads

Orange is warm without the urgency of red. It signals appetite (used heavily in fast food), creativity, and approachability. At low saturation it becomes terracotta, rust, or apricot — earthy palettes for hospitality and craft. At high saturation it reads as a sport, energy drink, or warning hazard. Orange and teal is a familiar modern film-grade pairing; the contrast between warm skin tones and cool shadows is engineered for it.

This particular tone

A grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #A39C8F.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Notionneutral
    Notion Gray · #787774
    →
  • Microsoftneutral
    Slate Gray · #737373
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #A39C8F.

  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →
  • IcelandLichen Green
    #9CA577 · Cetraria islandica
    →
  • ScandinaviaAsh Grey
    #A8AAA5 · Birch and ash bark
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using orange and color in design.

Color TheoryWarm Color Palette Guide: Reds, Oranges, Yellows, and Their NeutralsColor History1970s Earth Tone Colors: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green & Burnt Orange PalettesColor TheoryColor Temperature in Design: Warm vs. Cool and How to Use the Difference

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Apricot Silk Faint
#B6B0A5 · hsl(40, 10%, 68%)
Darker companion
Apricot Radiant Faint
#958E7E · hsl(40, 10%, 54%)
Complementary counterpoint
Cobalt Tone Faint
#8F96A3 · hsl(220, 10%, 60%)
Analogous lead
Citrine Tone Faint
#A3A38F · hsl(60, 10%, 60%)
Analogous echo
Vermillion Tone Faint
#A3948F · hsl(15, 10%, 60%)
Triadic +120°
Teal Tone Faint
#8FA39C · hsl(160, 10%, 60%)
Triadic +240°
Mulberry Tone Faint
#9C8FA3 · hsl(280, 10%, 60%)
Split-comp +150°
Cerulean Tone Faint
#8FA0A3 · hsl(190, 10%, 60%)
Split-comp +210°
Violet Tone Faint
#928FA3 · hsl(250, 10%, 60%)
Export preview
Base: Apricot Tone Faint #A39C8F
Lighter companion: Apricot Silk Faint #B6B0A5
Darker companion: Apricot Radiant Faint #958E7E
Complementary counterpoint: Cobalt Tone Faint #8F96A3
Analogous lead: Citrine Tone Faint #A3A38F
Analogous echo: Vermillion Tone Faint #A3948F
Triadic +120°: Teal Tone Faint #8FA39C
Triadic +240°: Mulberry Tone Faint #9C8FA3
Split-comp +150°: Cerulean Tone Faint #8FA0A3
Split-comp +210°: Violet Tone Faint #928FA3

Compare

See how Apricot Tone Faint compares side by side with related colors.

vsApricot Silk FaintvsApricot Radiant FaintvsCobalt Tone FaintvsCitrine Tone FaintvsVermillion Tone FaintvsTeal Tone Faint

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Tone
#9E9B94 · hsl(40, 5%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Tone Muted
#AB9F87 · hsl(40, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Radiant Faint
#958E7E · hsl(40, 10%, 54%)
Nearby match
Saffron Tone Faint
#A39E8F · hsl(45, 10%, 60%)
Nearby match
Apricot Silk Faint
#B6B0A5 · hsl(40, 10%, 68%)
Nearby match
Taupe Gray Radiant
#908C84 · hsl(40, 5%, 54%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA7:1
Iris Ink Pure
#030345
AA4.8:1
Cobalt Nocturne Faint
#2E3138
AA4.9:1
Cobalt Nocturne Muted
#2A303C
AA4.9:1
Cobalt Nocturne Dust
#262F40
AA5:1
Cobalt Nocturne Soft
#222D44
AA5.2:1
Cobalt Nocturne Clear
#172A4F

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#A0A193
Protanopia
#A0A092
Tritanopia
#A39595
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Taupe Gray Tone#9E9B94 · hsl(40, 5%, 60%)Apricot Tone Faint#A39C8F · hsl(40, 10%, 60%)Apricot Tone Muted#AB9F87 · hsl(40, 18%, 60%)Apricot Tone Dust#B4A27E · hsl(40, 26%, 60%)Apricot Tone Soft#BCA576 · hsl(40, 34%, 60%)Apricot Tone Clear#D0AB62 · hsl(40, 54%, 60%)Apricot Tone Vivid#E4B24E · hsl(40, 74%, 60%)Apricot Tone Bright#EFB643 · hsl(40, 84%, 60%)Apricot Tone Pure#F7B83B · hsl(40, 92%, 60%)
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