Wasabi sits in the earthy band at #b0c44f. The name carries a real history — wasabi has been describing this part of the spectrum for longer than the spectrum has been a word.
Eutrema japonicum*
Eutrema japonicum, the river-grown rhizome from the cold streams of Honshu, ground fresh into the green paste that accompanies sushi in traditional Japanese restaurants. Most wasabi served outside Japan is dyed horseradish — the real plant is rare and expensive. The color refers to fresh-grated wasabi: a soft, slightly muted yellow-green with the matte finish of a wet plant cell wall, brighter than sage, drier than matcha.
A saturated warm yellow
Sits at OKLCH lightness 0.78, chroma 0.144, hue 118° — a saturated warm yellow, the kind of color that carries a clear hue without shouting.
Mid-luminance — the body-text decision goes either way. Test both directions; a 4.5:1 ratio against pure white or pure black is reachable, neither is automatic.
Pairings + neighbors
Triadic counterparts sit at #4fb1c4 and #c44fb1 — three slices of the wheel 120° apart, the classic balanced trio. The pairings stay in the earthy register if all three keep their saturation; pull one toward neutral and the trio turns into a feature-with-supporting-cast.
The closest curated cousin in the library is Avocado green at #87a922 — a near-perceptual match (ΔE 13.7 in CIELAB). Worth the click if today's color almost works but you want to test a sibling.
Auto-composed from the etymology corpus and computed color properties · subject to revision