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Emerald Silk Muted
Color detail

Emerald Silk Muted

Green · Hue 120
Metrics
S 18% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white2.1:1Failon black10.2:1AA
Save to journalSign in to saveStart palette from thisRecent trail

About this color

Emerald Silk Muted (#9FBC9F) belongs to the green family — hue 120°, 18% saturation, 68% lightness. Copy the hex, RGB, or HSL value above, or paste the CSS custom property below into your stylesheet to reference this color directly.

CSS
:root {
  --colorarchive-emerald-silk-muted: #9FBC9F;
  --colorarchive-emerald-silk-muted-hsl: hsl(120, 18%, 68%);
  --colorarchive-emerald-silk-muted-rgb: rgb(159, 188, 159);
}

AI Color Names

Let AI suggest alternative poetic names for this color in English and Chinese.

Design Context

CalmingHealingOpen
Common in

Wellness · Meditation Apps · Healthcare

Pairs well with

Soft lavender for serenity, warm cream for organic warmth

Design tip

Perfect for health and wellness interfaces. Light greens reduce visual stress — use for backgrounds in reading-heavy layouts.

Cultural context ▶

Mint and sage greens symbolize healing, tranquility, and renewal. Common in spa and wellness branding.

Color Origins

Green family

The color of growth, currency, and long-running brands.

Heritage

Verdigris (copper acetate) gave medieval manuscripts many of their greens; it was unstable, eating through parchment over centuries. Terre verte (green earth) was used for under-painting flesh in the Italian tradition. Scheele's green (1775) and Paris green, arsenic compounds widely used in the 19th century, killed an unknown number of workers and Victorian children before viridian and phthalo greens replaced them. Modern green pigments are remarkably stable.

Across cultures

Green is closely associated with Islam — it appears on the flags of many Muslim-majority nations and on the Green Dome in Medina. In Ireland green is national identity, partly through the shamrock and partly through the political binary with orange. In Old Japanese a single word, ao, covered both blue and green; the 'go' traffic light is still officially ao, and since 1973 has been set to a bluish shade of green. Across many cultures green simultaneously means growth, fertility, envy, and the supernatural.

In the wild

Starbucks moved its logo from the original 1971 brown to green in 1987. John Deere's green and yellow has marked its machines for more than a century. U.S. banknotes have been printed in green since the 1860s; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing says no one can say for certain why green was first chosen, but it kept the color for the 1929 small-size notes because the pigment was plentiful, durable, and associated with the government's stable credit. WhatsApp, Spotify, and Heineken all anchor on green. Hospital scrubs were originally white and moved to green and teal; a common explanation is that green hides the green after-images surgeons see on white surfaces after staring at red tissue.

How it reads

Green sits near the peak of the eye's daylight sensitivity — the photopic luminosity curve peaks at 555nm. At low saturation it reads as natural, calm, premium (sage, olive). At high saturation it reads as urgent or playful. It carries one of the strongest semantic loads in product design: 'success', 'go', 'natural', 'safe'.

This particular tone

A grounded mid-tone — sober, considered, well-suited to body text accents, editorial layouts, or any context where restraint reads as quality.

Lightness band: At mid-lightness the hue carries its full character. This is the band where many identity colors live: bright enough to be distinctive at small sizes, deep enough to sit cleanly on a white canvas.

Saturation band: The low saturation pulls this color toward earthen, vintage, or editorial palettes. It reads as confident and grown-up rather than playful, and it tolerates being used in large blocks without becoming visually noisy.

Brands using a similar color

Within the public brand-guidelines reference catalog, these are the closest matches to #9FBC9F.

  • Anthropicneutral
    Mid Gray · #B0AEA5
    →
  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →

Cultures using a similar color

From the cultural-palette catalog, these regions feature a color close to #9FBC9F.

  • China (Traditional)Celadon (青瓷)
    #9CB48F · Song Dynasty Longquan kilns
    →
  • ScandinaviaAsh Grey
    #A8AAA5 · Birch and ash bark
    →
  • Greece (Aegean)Olive Silver
    #9CA38F · Olea europaea leaf undersides
    →

Color guides

Go deeper on using green and color in design.

Color History1970s Earth Tone Colors: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green & Burnt Orange PalettesUI DesignColor in Financial UI: Trust, Data Visualization, and the Red/Green ConventionAccessibilityWCAG Color Accessibility Guide: Contrast Ratios, Color-Blind Design, and What You Actually Need to Know

Tonal strip

All lightness levels at this hue and saturation. Click any to navigate.

Palette moves

Instead of stopping at one swatch, use nearby, opposite, and tonal neighbors to branch into a broader palette.

Lighter companion
Emerald Bloom Muted
#B7CDB7 · hsl(120, 18%, 76%)
Darker companion
Emerald Tone Muted
#87AB87 · hsl(120, 18%, 60%)
Complementary counterpoint
Fuchsia Silk Muted
#BC9FBC · hsl(300, 18%, 68%)
Analogous lead
Celadon Silk Muted
#9FBCAB · hsl(145, 18%, 68%)
Analogous echo
Moss Silk Muted
#A9BC9F · hsl(100, 18%, 68%)
Triadic +120°
Iris Silk Muted
#9F9FBC · hsl(240, 18%, 68%)
Triadic +240°
Crimson Silk Muted
#BC9F9F · hsl(0, 18%, 68%)
Split-comp +150°
Plum Silk Muted
#AD9FBC · hsl(270, 18%, 68%)
Split-comp +210°
Blush Silk Muted
#BC9FAD · hsl(330, 18%, 68%)
Export preview
Base: Emerald Silk Muted #9FBC9F
Lighter companion: Emerald Bloom Muted #B7CDB7
Darker companion: Emerald Tone Muted #87AB87
Complementary counterpoint: Fuchsia Silk Muted #BC9FBC
Analogous lead: Celadon Silk Muted #9FBCAB
Analogous echo: Moss Silk Muted #A9BC9F
Triadic +120°: Iris Silk Muted #9F9FBC
Triadic +240°: Crimson Silk Muted #BC9F9F
Split-comp +150°: Plum Silk Muted #AD9FBC
Split-comp +210°: Blush Silk Muted #BC9FAD

Compare

See how Emerald Silk Muted compares side by side with related colors.

vsEmerald Bloom MutedvsEmerald Tone MutedvsFuchsia Silk MutedvsCeladon Silk MutedvsMoss Silk MutedvsIris Silk Muted

Nearest neighbors

The closest archive matches by hue, saturation, and lightness.

Search by hex
Nearby match
Emerald Silk Faint
#A5B6A5 · hsl(120, 10%, 68%)
Nearby match
Emerald Silk Dust
#98C398 · hsl(120, 26%, 68%)
Nearby match
Clover Silk Muted
#A1BC9F · hsl(115, 18%, 68%)
Nearby match
Emerald Tone Muted
#87AB87 · hsl(120, 18%, 60%)
Nearby match
Emerald Bloom Muted
#B7CDB7 · hsl(120, 18%, 76%)
Nearby match
Emerald Silk Soft
#92C992 · hsl(120, 34%, 68%)

Accessible pairings

Archive colors that meet WCAG contrast standards when paired with this color. Use as text-on-background or background-on-text.

Contrast checker
AAA7.7:1
Fuchsia Ink Faint
#272027
AAA7.8:1
Fuchsia Ink Muted
#2A1D2A
AAA7.8:1
Fuchsia Ink Dust
#2D1A2D
AAA7.8:1
Fuchsia Ink Soft
#301830
AAA7.9:1
Fuchsia Ink Clear
#371037
AAA7.7:1
Fuchsia Ink Vivid
#3E093E

Color Vision Simulation

How this color appears with different color vision deficiencies.

Full simulator
Deuteranopia
#ABA8A8
Protanopia
#ACADA7
Tritanopia
#A1ACAE
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Saturation ladder

Same hue and lightness, from gray to pure

Search
Emerald Silk Faint#A5B6A5 · hsl(120, 10%, 68%)Emerald Silk Muted#9FBC9F · hsl(120, 18%, 68%)Emerald Silk Dust#98C398 · hsl(120, 26%, 68%)Emerald Silk Soft#92C992 · hsl(120, 34%, 68%)Emerald Silk Clear#81D981 · hsl(120, 54%, 68%)Emerald Silk Vivid#71EA71 · hsl(120, 74%, 68%)Emerald Silk Bright#69F269 · hsl(120, 84%, 68%)Emerald Silk Pure#62F862 · hsl(120, 92%, 68%)
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