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Patrician Cay violet

#931164
Notes

Patrician Cay violet (#931164) 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 (322°, 79%, 32%) 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
#931164
RGB
rgb(147, 17, 100)
HSL
hsl(322, 79%, 32%)
HWB
hwb(322 7% 42%)
OKLCH
oklch(44.6% 0.176 348.5)
P3
color(display-p3 0.5281 0.1289 0.3832)
HSV
hsv(322, 88%, 58%)
LAB
lab(32.98% 56.27 -13.38)
LCH
lch(32.98% 57.84 346.62)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 88%, 32%, 42%)

Etymology

Patrician
adjective

Latin patrīcius, of the noble class — derived from pater (father). As a color modifier, patrician implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-Roman-Republic quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Patrician-class toga and senatorial-livery hereditary-aristocratic dress. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to senatorial and imperial.

Cay
modifier

Spanish cayo via Taíno cayo, low-island. As a color modifier, cay implies a tropical-coral-and-sand-spit quality, the visual register of Caribbean-and-Bahamian small low-tide reef-and-sand-spit sun-bleached-coral coastal surfaces in turquoise-water shallow-tropical light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to isle and spit 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.

#931164
Original
#2b3f66
Protanopia
#515561
Deuteranopia
#9e043b
Tritanopia
#333333
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
8.38:1
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
2.50:1

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
##931164
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.5281 0.1289 0.3832)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.176

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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