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Sonorous Polygala

#870b6d
Notes

Sonorous Polygala (#870B6D) 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 (313°, 85%, 29%) 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 green. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#870b6d
RGB
rgb(135, 11, 109)
HSL
hsl(313, 85%, 29%)
HWB
hwb(313 4% 47%)
OKLCH
oklch(42.6% 0.178 339.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.4844 0.1078 0.4150)
HSV
hsv(313, 92%, 53%)
LAB
lab(30.63% 55.78 -22.99)
LCH
lch(30.63% 60.33 337.60)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 92%, 19%, 47%)

Etymology

Sonorous
adjective

Latin sonōrus, resounding — derived from sonus (sound). As a color modifier, sonorous implies a saturated-and-richly-vibrating quality where the hue carries the deep-resonance visual register of a cathedral-organ-pipe low-note. Sits at the bold-and-resonant end of the grid, parallel to resonant and deep in usage.

Polygala
noun

Eurasian milkwort (Polygala myrtifolia) — a Polygalaceae evergreen shrub native to South Africa cultivated worldwide as a Mediterranean garden plant for its deep-magenta keel-shaped flowers in axial racemes. Polygala color refers to a fully bloomed Polygala myrtifolia keel-flower on a Cape Floristic Region shrub: a saturated, slightly cool deep magenta with the velvet finish of fresh keel-shaped legume-form flower. The Greek poly-gala means much milk.

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.

#870b6d
Original
#183c6f
Protanopia
#444f6a
Deuteranopia
#8f133f
Tritanopia
#2c2c2c
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
9.13:1
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
2.30:1

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
##870B6D
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.4844 0.1078 0.4150)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.178

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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