Chartreuse
A bright yellow-green named after a French liqueur
Chartreuse is a vivid colour halfway between yellow and green, named for its likeness to the French liqueur first made in 1764. It is known for its use in safety clothing, fire engines, and digital design, and stands out for its brightness and visibility.
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- Named after the French liqueur Chartreuse
- Hex code is #80FF00 in digital design
- Used for high-visibility safety clothing and fire engines
- Popular in tech office decor since the 2000s
- Appears in art, music, and pop culture
What colour is Chartreuse?
Chartreuse is a bright, clear colour that sits exactly between yellow and green. It is often described as yellow-green or greenish yellow. The colour stands out for its intensity and is easily noticed, making it different from softer or darker greens and yellows. Its vividness is why it is often chosen for things that need to be seen from a distance or in dim light.
Where does Chartreuse come from?
The name chartreuse comes from the French liqueur of the same colour, which was first made by Carthusian monks in 1764 in the Chartreuse Mountains. The drink's striking green shade led to the colour being named after it. The related shade 'chartreuse yellow' is named after a yellow version of the liqueur.
How Chartreuse is defined
Chartreuse as a colour is not tied to a single pigment or dye. In digital media, it is defined by the hex code #80FF00, which mixes equal parts of green and yellow light. In print and textiles, it is made by blending yellow and green pigments or dyes to match the desired vividness.
Where Chartreuse is used
Chartreuse is widely used for high-visibility safety clothing, such as vests worn by workers near traffic. Since the 1970s, some fire engines in the United States and Australia have been painted chartreuse to increase their visibility, especially at night. The colour is also popular in digital design, art, and has appeared in pop culture, album covers, and even hair dye.
Green around the world
What the green family means from country to country.
A green kerchief is the sign of the campaign for legal abortion. Huge crowds wore it in 2018, and the movement was called the green wave.
Politics and protestHopeSource: Green scarfGreen and gold have been the official national colours since 1984 and are worn by national sports teams. They echo the leaves and flowers of the golden wattle.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: National colours of AustraliaA Test cricketer is given a dark green cap, the baggy green, on first playing for Australia. Many players wear the same faded cap for a whole career.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: Baggy greenThe green field of the flag stands for the land and its rice fields. Many people also read it as the youth and vigour of the country.
Nature and renewalPolitics and protestHopeSource: Flag of BangladeshThe flag is white, green and red. The green band, which took the place of the blue in the Russian flag, is read as the country's forests and farmland.
Politics and protestNature and renewalSource: Flag of BulgariaThe green field of the flag is commonly said to stand for the forests. It was first the colour of the House of Braganza, the family of the first emperor.
Politics and protestNature and renewalPrideSource: Flag of BrazilShades and relatives of Chartreuse
Variations include 'chartreuse yellow', which is a yellow shade with a hint of green, and other bright yellow-greens like lime green. Chartreuse is sometimes confused with these similar shades, but it is defined by its position exactly between yellow and green.
Colours that go with Chartreuse
Harmonies are worked out from the value #80FF00. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Chartreuse
What colour is chartreuse?
Chartreuse is a bright, vivid shade halfway between yellow and green. It is sometimes called yellow-green or greenish yellow.
Where does the name chartreuse come from?
The name comes from the French liqueur Chartreuse, first made by Carthusian monks in 1764. The colour was named for its similarity to the drink's green shade.
What is chartreuse used for?
Chartreuse is used for high-visibility safety clothing, fire engines, digital design, and as an accent in art and pop culture.
How is chartreuse made in digital media?
In digital design, chartreuse is defined by the hex code #80FF00, blending equal parts of green and yellow light.
Is chartreuse the same as lime green?
No, chartreuse is exactly between yellow and green, while lime green is a related but slightly different bright green shade.
Good reading and sources
- Chartreuse (color) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More pictures on Wikimedia CommonsPictures
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Chartreuse (color)", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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