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Refreshing Nun Mint

#4a895c
Notes

Refreshing Nun Mint (#4A895C) 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 (137°, 30%, 41%) 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 magenta. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#4a895c
RGB
rgb(74, 137, 92)
HSL
hsl(137, 30%, 41%)
HWB
hwb(137 29% 46%)
OKLCH
oklch(57.5% 0.096 151.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.3504 0.5313 0.3761)
HSV
hsv(137, 46%, 54%)
LAB
lab(51.97% -30.82 18.00)
LCH
lch(51.97% 35.69 149.72)
CMYK
cmyk(46%, 0%, 33%, 46%)

Etymology

Refreshing
adjective

Old French refreschir, to make fresh again — present-participle of refresh. As a color modifier, refreshing implies a clear-and-cool-and-revitalizing quality, the crisp color of Cornish-coast and Hebridean-island fresh-sea-air-and-cool-water revitalization. Sits at the crisp-and-cool end of the grid, parallel to fresh and bracing in usage.

Nun
modifier

Latin nonna, mother / nun. As a color modifier, nun implies a Carmelite-and-Benedictine-religious-sister quality, the visual register of Carmelite-and-Benedictine-Nun hand-spun robe-and-veil-and-wimple Carmelite-and-Benedictine-religious-sister surfaces under Carmelite-and-Benedictine-Religious-Sister hand-spun-robe-and-wimple convent-cloister light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to monk and friar in usage.

Mint
noun

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.

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.

#4a895c
Original
#898059
Protanopia
#80795f
Deuteranopia
#3e877d
Tritanopia
#787878
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
4.18:1
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
5.02:1

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
##4A895C
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.3504 0.5313 0.3761)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.096

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.

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