A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated CW-E 2(T), was isolated from a polluted soil sample collected from Jiangsu Province, China. A taxonomic study of the isolate, including phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and phenotypic characteristics, was carried out. The predominant menaquinone was MK-6 and the major fatty acids were i-C(15 : 0), i-C(17 : 0) 3-OH, i-C(17 : 1) omega 9c and summed feature 4. The G+C content of the DNA was 37.2 mol%. Based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain CW-E 2(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium for which the name Chryseobacterium flavum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CW-E 2(T) (=KCTC 12877(T)=CCTCC AB 206147(T)).