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Lordly Pollux violet

#9220d5
Notes

Lordly Pollux violet (#9220D5) is a true indigo with a vibrant character. It holds its own as a focal accent, carrying visual weight without tipping into neon territory. Its HSL profile (278°, 74%, 48%) 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 lime. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#9220d5
RGB
rgb(146, 32, 213)
HSL
hsl(278, 74%, 48%)
HWB
hwb(278 13% 16%)
OKLCH
oklch(52.5% 0.248 307.8)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5261 0.1661 0.8047)
HSV
hsv(278, 85%, 84%)
LAB
lab(41.13% 71.41 -68.99)
LCH
lch(41.13% 99.30 315.99)
CMYK
cmyk(31%, 85%, 0%, 16%)

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.

Pollux
modifier

Greek Πολυδεύκης, Gemini-twin-and-immortal-boxer. As a color modifier, pollux implies a Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother quality, the visual register of Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin hand-Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin-and-Argonaut pollux-and-Gemini-twin-and-immortal-brother surfaces under Gemini-Pollux-and-Castor-twin-and-Argonaut spring-Gemini-and-Bortle-1-sky stellar-twin-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to castor and spica 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.

#9220d5
Original
#005dda
Protanopia
#0062d2
Deuteranopia
#87547f
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).
AAon White
6.20:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AA Largeon Black
3.39:1

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
##9220D5
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5261 0.1661 0.8047)
P3 has visible headroomOKLCH chroma 0.248

This color is chromatic enough that authoring it as P3 native (instead of clamping to sRGB) gives a perceptibly more saturated render on wide-gamut displays — modern Macs, iPhones, iPads, and most recent OLED laptops.

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