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Emerald Silk Muted
Color detail

Emerald Silk Muted

Green · Hue 120
Hex
#9FBC9F
RGB
rgb(159, 188, 159)
HSL
hsl(120, 18%, 68%)
CMYK
cmyk(15%, 0%, 15%, 26%)
Metrics
S 18% · L 68%
Contrast (WCAG)
on white
2.1:1Fail
on black
10.2:1AA
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 the longest-running brands.

Heritage

Verdigris (copper acetate) gave medieval manuscripts 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 and Paris green, both 19th-century arsenic compounds, killed an unknown number of wallpaper-makers and Victorian children before viridian and phthalo greens replaced them. Modern green pigments are remarkably stable; the iconic Brunswick green that became British Racing Green dates to the same chemistry.

Across cultures

Green is the dominant color of Islam — the Prophet's banner, the flags of many Muslim-majority nations, the domes of mosques. In Ireland green is national identity, partly through the shamrock and partly through the political binary with orange. In Japan, green and blue (ao/midori) were a single concept until recently; traffic 'green lights' there are still a deeper teal-ish shade. Across many cultures green simultaneously means growth, fertility, envy, and the supernatural.

In the wild

Starbucks' green has barely changed since 1971. John Deere has used essentially the same green since 1837 — the longest continuous brand color in commerce. The U.S. dollar is green because of the chemistry of camphor and copper sulfate, not branding. Whatsapp, Spotify, and Heineken all anchor on green; each chose it for a different reason (community, sound, Dutch heritage). Hospital scrubs were originally white but switched to green/teal because surgeons were getting after-image fatigue.

How it reads

Green is the hue the eye is most efficient at parsing — half of all our cone cells are tuned near 555nm. That makes green the easiest color to look at for long periods, which is why it dominates productivity software, 'go' indicators, and reading-friendly UI. At low saturation it reads as natural, calm, premium (sage, olive). At high saturation it reads as urgent or playful (Mountain Dew, Slack notifications). 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 most 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.

  • Starbucksneutral
    Warm Neutral · #D4E9E2
    →
  • Redditsecondary
    Periwinkle · #7193FF
    →
  • Glossierprimary
    Glossier Pink · #F8D6CD
    →

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
    →

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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