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Praetorian Greenfinch

#558516
Notes

Praetorian Greenfinch (#558516) is a deep lime with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (86°, 72%, 30%) 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#558516
RGB
rgb(85, 133, 22)
HSL
hsl(86, 72%, 30%)
HWB
hwb(86 9% 48%)
OKLCH
oklch(56.1% 0.145 131.2)
HSV
hsv(86, 83%, 52%)
LAB
lab(50.41% -33.49 49.52)
LCH
lch(50.41% 59.78 124.07)
CMYK
cmyk(36%, 0%, 83%, 48%)

Etymology

Praetorian
adjective

Latin praetōriānus, of the praetor — adjectival suffix, referring to the Roman-Imperial elite guard-cohorts. As a color modifier, praetorian implies a saturated-and-elite-and-imperial-guard quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Praetorian-Guard elite-imperial-bodyguard scarlet-tunic-and-bronze-armor military-formation. Sits at the bold-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to spartan and imperial.

Greenfinch
noun

Chloris chloris, the European finch whose males in breeding plumage are yellow-green with bright yellow wing bars — common in British and Continental hedgerow gardens until trichomonosis collapsed populations in the 2000s. The color refers to a male European greenfinch in spring: a saturated, slightly muted yellow-green with the matte finish of carotenoid-pigmented feathers.

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

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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.

#558516
Original
#8b7a00
Protanopia
#857723
Deuteranopia
#577f71
Tritanopia
#737373
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
4.42:1
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
4.75:1

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