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Lordly Tunic Violet

#4f399f
Notes

Lordly Tunic Violet (#4F399F) is a true 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 (253°, 47%, 42%) 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 yellow. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#4f399f
RGB
rgb(79, 57, 159)
HSL
hsl(253, 47%, 42%)
HWB
hwb(253 22% 38%)
OKLCH
oklch(42.9% 0.157 287.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.2966 0.2270 0.6012)
HSV
hsv(253, 64%, 62%)
LAB
lab(32.01% 36.29 -52.35)
LCH
lch(32.01% 63.70 304.73)
CMYK
cmyk(50%, 64%, 0%, 38%)

Etymology

Lordly
adjective

Old English hlāford-līc, lord-like — adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, lordly implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-haughty quality, the deep-rich color of pre-modern English-and-French manorial-aristocracy livery and hereditary-estate household-textile. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to princely and patrician.

Tunic
modifier

Latin tunica, Roman-undergarment. As a color modifier, tunic implies a Roman-tunic-and-medieval-undergarment quality, the visual register of Roman-tunic-and-medieval-bliaut hand-Roman-tunic-and-medieval-undergarment Roman-tunic-and-medieval-bliaut-and-Carolingian-court tunic-and-Roman-tunic-and-medieval-undergarment surfaces under Roman-tunic-and-medieval-bliaut-and-Carolingian-court Republican-and-Carolingian-Aachen Roman-and-medieval-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to chiton and peplos in usage.

Violet
noun

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.

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.

#4f399f
Original
#004ea2
Protanopia
#00499d
Deuteranopia
#335166
Tritanopia
#454545
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
8.68:1
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
2.42:1

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
##4F399F
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.2966 0.2270 0.6012)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.157

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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