Showa era
Yellow Ocher & Olive
Plate 96 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Yellow Ocher, Olive.
#837e31
yellow · 7 palettes
Olive
About Olive
Olive is a deep, muted yellow tone. Its hex value is #837e31 — that is
RGB 131, 126, 49, or HSL 56°, 46%, 35%.
It holds 5.0:1 contrast against dark, so Olive works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 4.2:1; on black 5.0:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Olive appears in 7 combinations — most often paired with Sulpher Yellow, Pinkish Cinnamon and Antwarp Blue.
Colours that go with Olive
From a standard colour wheel, Olive anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#837e31 #313683
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#837e31 #835531 #5F8331
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#837e31 #31837E #7E3183
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#837e31 #315F83 #553183
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Olive
Olive is a deep, muted tone (HSL 56°, 46%, 35%), which makes it a grounding background or strong accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a dark background (5.0:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#313683) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#835531 and #5F8331) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Olive
Olive appears in 7 combinations from the archive. Each pairing reveals how the same color shifts character depending on its neighbours.
From the archive
Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.
- All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
- Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
- Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
- CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
- 378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
- Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues
See what's inside
Launching soon. The free archive stays free, always.