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Starched Peplos Kingfisher

#3cc4a1
Notes

Starched Peplos Kingfisher (#3CC4A1) is a true teal 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 (165°, 54%, 50%) 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 red. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#3cc4a1
RGB
rgb(60, 196, 161)
HSL
hsl(165, 54%, 50%)
HWB
hwb(165 24% 23%)
OKLCH
oklch(73.9% 0.127 171.8)
HSV
hsv(165, 69%, 77%)
LAB
lab(71.56% -44.60 7.09)
LCH
lch(71.56% 45.16 170.96)
CMYK
cmyk(69%, 0%, 18%, 23%)

Etymology

Starched
adjective

Old English stercan, to stiffen — past-participle of starch. As a color modifier, starched implies a clear-and-stiff-and-formal quality, the crisp color of Edwardian-period formal-evening-shirt-and-collar starched-and-pressed dress-attire. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to pressed and ironed in usage.

Peplos
modifier

Greek πέπλος, Hellenic-women's-robe. As a color modifier, peplos implies a Hellenic-women's-peplos-and-pinned-shoulder quality, the visual register of Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos hand-Hellenic-women's-peplos-and-pinned-shoulder Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos-and-Panathenaic-festival peplos-and-Hellenic-women's-peplos surfaces under Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos-and-Panathenaic-festival Athenian-Acropolis-and-Panathenaic-procession Hellenic-court-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to chiton and tunic in usage.

Kingfisher
noun

The family Alcedinidae — particularly Alcedo atthis, the European common kingfisher whose iridescent turquoise-blue plumage gives the color its name. The color refers to a male European kingfisher's wing: a saturated, slightly cool deep blue-green with the iridescent satin finish of structurally colored feathers.

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.

#3cc4a1
Original
#beb79f
Protanopia
#acaaa3
Deuteranopia
#00c6ba
Tritanopia
#a5a5a5
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).
Failon White
2.19:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
9.60:1

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