Hushed Wū
Hushed Wū (#010216) is a deep blue with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (237°, 91%, 5%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary yellow. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
The past participle of hush, to silence — used as a color modifier since the late nineteenth century for hues that read as if turned down. Hushed pink, hushed lavender: low saturation combined with optical quietness. Sits at the hushed-bucket center alongside muted.
Chinese 烏, raven (Corvus corax) — the largest passerine bird of the Eurasian temperate forest, with deep iridescent blue-black plumage that takes on violet-bronze sheens in raking sunlight. Wū color refers to a Corvus corax dorsal feather field: a saturated, slightly cool deep black with the iridescent satin finish of structurally colored feather barbs over melanin substrate.
Closest matches
The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.
Variations
Click any swatch to exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.
The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.