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Tenebrous Kachi

#2e3986
Notes

Tenebrous Kachi (#2E3986) is a true blue with an earthy character. It leans grounded and natural, the kind of color that plays well with wood, clay, linen, and warm neutrals. Its HSL profile (233°, 49%, 35%) places it in the balanced band at a mid lightness. It works across type, buttons, and borders, saturated enough to feel deliberate but balanced enough to not fight the rest of the palette. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary amber. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#2e3986
RGB
rgb(46, 57, 134)
HSL
hsl(233, 49%, 35%)
HWB
hwb(233 18% 47%)
OKLCH
oklch(38.2% 0.128 272.7)
HSV
hsv(233, 66%, 53%)
LAB
lab(27.37% 21.54 -44.67)
LCH
lch(27.37% 49.59 295.74)
CMYK
cmyk(66%, 57%, 0%, 47%)

Etymology

Tenebrous
adjective

Latin tenebrōsus, full of darkness — derived from tenebrae (the deepening shadows of evening prayer service). As a color modifier, tenebrous implies a literary-poetic register for deep-shadowed darkness, where the hue is overwhelmed by ambient gloom. Sits at the deep-and-cool end of the grid, near Stygian but with painterly-baroque connotations.

Kachi
noun

Japanese kachi-iro (褐色 or 勝色) — victory color, the deep blue-black favored by samurai for ceremonial dress because kachi phonetically equals victory. The deepest indigo dye, often applied through six or seven dye baths. The color refers to a kachi-dyed samurai jinbaori: a saturated, slightly cool very deep blue-black with the matte finish of multi-bath indigo silk.

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

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Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

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.

#2e3986
Original
#004589
Protanopia
#003d84
Deuteranopia
#004b59
Tritanopia
#3c3c3c
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

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.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon White
10.27:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
2.05:1

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