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Drenched Erythrite

#4e2979
Notes

Drenched Erythrite (#4E2979) is a deep indigo 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 (268°, 49%, 32%) 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.

HEX
#4e2979
RGB
rgb(78, 41, 121)
HSL
hsl(268, 49%, 32%)
HWB
hwb(268 16% 53%)
OKLCH
oklch(37.3% 0.131 301.6)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2862 0.1679 0.4578)
HSV
hsv(268, 66%, 47%)
LAB
lab(25.52% 34.39 -39.35)
LCH
lch(25.52% 52.26 311.15)
CMYK
cmyk(36%, 66%, 0%, 53%)

Etymology

Drenched
adjective

Old English drencan, to give to drink — past-participle of drench. As a color modifier, drenched implies a hue saturated to its visual maximum without dilution, the deep-and-soaked quality of cloth fully absorbed by dye. Sits at the deep-and-saturated end of the grid, where the color reads as fully bathed by pigment.

Erythrite
noun

Cobalt bloom, a hydrated cobalt arsenate mineral that forms as a secondary alteration product on cobalt-rich ores. The mineral is sometimes called cobalt arsenate hydrate. Erythrite color refers to a freshly fractured Schneeberg erythrite crystal cluster: a saturated, slightly cool deep violet with the matte finish of acicular hydrated cobalt-arsenate crystals. Named for the Greek erythros (red), though the mineral is purple-violet.

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.

#4e2979
Original
#003c7b
Protanopia
#0b3c77
Deuteranopia
#453a4d
Tritanopia
#373737
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).
AAAon White
10.95:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon Black
1.92:1

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
##4E2979
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2862 0.1679 0.4578)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.131

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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