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Authoritative Marjoram

#55a427
Notes

Authoritative Marjoram (#55A427) is a true lime 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 (98°, 62%, 40%) 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 indigo. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#55a427
RGB
rgb(85, 164, 39)
HSL
hsl(98, 62%, 40%)
HWB
hwb(98 15% 36%)
OKLCH
oklch(64.4% 0.175 136.7)
HSV
hsv(98, 76%, 64%)
LAB
lab(60.45% -45.70 53.53)
LCH
lch(60.45% 70.38 130.48)
CMYK
cmyk(48%, 0%, 76%, 36%)

Etymology

Authoritative
adjective

Latin auctōritāt-, authority — adjectival suffix -ive. As a color modifier, authoritative implies a saturated-and-formal-imperative quality where the hue carries decisional weight and institutional credibility. Sits at the bold-and-authoritative end of the grid, parallel to commanding and magisterial in usage.

Marjoram
noun

Origanum majorana, the Mediterranean culinary herb related to oregano — sweeter, milder, used in French Provence herb mixes and traditional Roman sausages. The color refers to fresh-picked marjoram leaves: a soft, slightly muted yellow-green with the matte finish of small mint-family leaves. Cooler than oregano.

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.

#55a427
Original
#aa960a
Protanopia
#9f8f34
Deuteranopia
#519e8c
Tritanopia
#8a8a8a
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
3.12:1
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
6.73:1

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