colors
Back to gallery

Certain Sabz

#3a9209
Notes

Certain Sabz (#3A9209) is a deep lime 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 (99°, 88%, 30%) 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#3a9209
RGB
rgb(58, 146, 9)
HSL
hsl(99, 88%, 30%)
HWB
hwb(99 4% 43%)
OKLCH
oklch(58.3% 0.178 138.4)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3243 0.5651 0.1681)
HSV
hsv(99, 94%, 57%)
LAB
lab(53.47% -48.09 54.60)
LCH
lch(53.47% 72.75 131.37)
CMYK
cmyk(60%, 0%, 94%, 43%)

Etymology

Certain
adjective

Latin certus, fixed / sure — sharing root with English concern and certify. As a color modifier, certain implies a saturated-and-unambiguous quality where the hue declares its character without hesitation. Sits at the bold-and-confident end of the grid, parallel to assured and decisive in usage.

Sabz
noun

The Persian word for green — both as the color of foliage and as a metaphor for renewal in Persian poetry (Hafiz writes of the sabz-poosh — those clothed in green). Sabz refers to the green of fresh herbs in a Persian sabzi-khordan salad: a saturated, slightly yellow-green with the matte finish of fresh-picked greens. The Iranian cousin of green.

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 explore

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.

#3a9209
Original
#978400
Protanopia
#8c7d20
Deuteranopia
#318d7b
Tritanopia
#757575
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).
AA Largeon White
3.97:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAon Black
5.30:1

Wide gamut

Display P3 representation

The CSS Color 4 wide-gamut form of this color. Both swatches render the same color on every display — the P3 form only diverges from sRGB when a designer pushes channels outside sRGB's reach.

sRGB hex
sRGB hex
##3A9209
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3243 0.5651 0.1681)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.178

Moderately saturated colors gain a small bump in P3 — the difference is usually visible side-by-side on wide-gamut hardware but won't change the character of the color.

Related Colors

Canvas