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Glowing Marjoram

#9bbe33
Notes

Glowing Marjoram (#9BBE33) 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 (75°, 58%, 47%) 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
#9bbe33
RGB
rgb(155, 190, 51)
HSL
hsl(75, 58%, 47%)
HWB
hwb(75 20% 25%)
OKLCH
oklch(75.0% 0.165 122.9)
P3
color(display-p3 0.6351 0.7411 0.2996)
HSV
hsv(75, 73%, 75%)
LAB
lab(72.25% -30.65 62.17)
LCH
lch(72.25% 69.32 116.24)
CMYK
cmyk(18%, 0%, 73%, 25%)

Etymology

Glowing
adjective

The progressive participle of glow, to emit light — used as a color word since the medieval period for hues that read as if they were luminous from within. Glowing amber, glowing rose: the implication is moderate saturation combined with the optical impression of internal light. Sits in the bright-bucket alongside radiant.

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

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.

#9bbe33
Original
#c9b217
Protanopia
#c5b13f
Deuteranopia
#a3b4a3
Tritanopia
#adadad
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).
Failon White
2.14:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
9.81:1

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
##9BBE33
Display P3
Display P3
color(display-p3 0.6351 0.7411 0.2996)
P3 has subtle headroomOKLCH chroma 0.165

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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