Profound Murasaki
Profound Murasaki (#4D2284) is a deep indigo with a cool character. It leans cool, sitting on the blue, green, and violet side of the wheel. Quiet and dependable, a fit for product UI and data visualization. Its HSL profile (266°, 59%, 33%) places it in the balanced 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 lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
From the Latin profundus, deep — sharing the same root as the noun profundity. As a color modifier, profound is the literary register for deep beyond ordinary measure — used for darks that read as bottomless or inexhaustible. Sits at the dark end of the grid alongside stygian and cavernous, with slightly more dignity and slightly less menace.
Japanese 紫, purple — historically the noble color of the Heian-period imperial court, derived from Lithospermum erythrorhizon (gromwell) root dye. Murasaki color refers to a Heian-period court silk kinu robe: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the silk luster of multi-bath gromwell-root dye. The word also names Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji (1010 CE).
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 exploreHarmonies
Accessibility
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.
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.