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Solid Fiddlehead

#42a83e
Notes

Solid Fiddlehead (#42A83E) is a true green 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 (118°, 46%, 45%) 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 violet. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#42a83e
RGB
rgb(66, 168, 62)
HSL
hsl(118, 46%, 45%)
HWB
hwb(118 24% 34%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.9% 0.173 142.7)
HSV
hsv(118, 63%, 66%)
LAB
lab(61.23% -50.52 44.92)
LCH
lch(61.23% 67.60 138.36)
CMYK
cmyk(61%, 0%, 63%, 34%)

Etymology

Solid
adjective

Latin solidus, firm, dense — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as continuous and unbroken: a solid blue is one with no variation across the surface. Implies high saturation combined with optical density. Sits in the bold-bucket alongside strong and robust, slightly more focused on uniformity.

Fiddlehead
noun

The tightly coiled emerging frond of any fern — particularly the edible fiddleheads of Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern), eaten as a foraged spring delicacy in New England. Fiddlehead color refers to a fresh-emerged fern fiddlehead: a saturated, slightly cool yellow-green with the satin finish of curled new growth.

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.

#42a83e
Original
#ac9932
Protanopia
#9f9047
Deuteranopia
#30a392
Tritanopia
#8b8b8b
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
3.04:1
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
6.90:1

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