Drowned Hong
Drowned Hong (#6C0136) is a deep magenta 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 (330°, 98%, 21%) places it in the highly saturated band at a dark lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary teal. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.
Etymology
The past participle of drown — used as a color word principally in literary contexts for the dark blue-green of deep water and the muted browns of waterlogged earth. Drowned implies darkness with the optical complexity of a fluid medium absorbing and scattering light. Sits in the deep-and-cool quadrant, near sunken.
The fundamental Chinese word for red — and the cultural color of weddings, festivals, lacquerware, and prosperity across thousands of years of Han through modern use. The color refers to zhongguohong (China red) — the saturated lacquer red of imperial palaces and bridal sashes: a saturated, slightly orange-shifted deep red with the high gloss of qī lacquer. Brighter than crimson, deeper than vermillion.
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.