Magenta vs Fuchsia
Can you tell them apart?
#FF00FF
#FF00AA
Perceptual difference (ΔE): 43.4 — clearly different.
Magenta is the third primary colour in CMYK printing — a pure pink-purple made from equal red and blue with no green — the colour of that specific ink cartridge. Fuchsia, named after the flowering plant with intensely pink-red blossoms, is a close relative but tips more toward red and slightly less toward blue. Web/CSS defines 'fuchsia' and 'magenta' as the same hex, but in practice and in fashion, fuchsia is understood as a deeper, redder hot pink while magenta is the cleaner, more balanced purple-pink primary. They're siblings, but fuchsia is the brasher one.
How to tell them apart
Magenta is perfectly balanced between red and blue — pure, crisp, almost violet-pink. Fuchsia tends toward a warmer, redder, more overtly hot-pink shade. If it looks like a CMYK test card, it's magenta; if it looks like the tropical flower, it's fuchsia.
Color values
| HEX | #FF00FF |
|---|---|
| RGB | 255, 0, 255 |
| HSL | 300°, 100%, 50% |
| CMYK | 0, 100, 0, 0 |
| HEX | #FF00AA |
|---|---|
| RGB | 255, 0, 170 |
| HSL | 320°, 100%, 50% |
| CMYK | 0, 100, 33, 0 |
FAQ
- Is magenta the same as fuchsia?
- In CSS they share the same hex, but in common usage fuchsia is warmer and redder while magenta is the pure blue-red primary.
- Is fuchsia more pink or more purple?
- More pink. Fuchsia leans toward red-pink rather than the purple balance of true magenta.