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Befittingly Pavement

#4a5d5b
Notes

Befittingly Pavement (#4A5D5B) is a deep 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 (174°, 11%, 33%) places it in the muted band at a dark lightness. It works well as a headline, icon, or deep background in an otherwise light layout, pairing cleanly with cream, bone, and warm neutrals. 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
#4a5d5b
RGB
rgb(74, 93, 91)
HSL
hsl(174, 11%, 33%)
HWB
hwb(174 29% 64%)
OKLCH
oklch(46.2% 0.023 188.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3050 0.3625 0.3564)
HSV
hsv(174, 20%, 36%)
LAB
lab(37.91% -7.69 -1.25)
LCH
lch(37.91% 7.79 189.24)
CMYK
cmyk(20%, 0%, 2%, 64%)

Etymology

Befittingly
adjective

Old English be- plus fit — adverbial-and-adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, befittingly implies a neutral-and-suitable-and-context-fitting quality where the hue carries the visual register of well-suited-and-appropriately-fitting coordinated color-decision. Sits at the neutral-and-traditional end of the grid, parallel to appropriately and suitably in usage.

Pavement
noun

Any paved walking surface — concrete sidewalks, brick paving, stone setts, and the asphalt walkways that line modern streets. The color refers to a typical concrete sidewalk after a few years of weathering: a soft, slightly muted mid-gray with the matte finish of cured cement aggregate. Cooler than concrete (the freshly poured), warmer than slate, with the urban weight of a surface that defines pedestrian space.

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.

#4a5d5b
Original
#5b5b5b
Protanopia
#57585b
Deuteranopia
#455e5c
Tritanopia
#595959
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).
AAon White
6.98:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.01:1

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
##4A5D5B
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3050 0.3625 0.3564)
Inside sRGBOKLCH chroma 0.023

This color sits well within the sRGB cube. P3 and sRGB share the gray axis and most desaturated tones, so a P3 display renders this identically to an sRGB display.

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