Plum vs Eggplant
Can you tell them apart?
#8E4585
#614051
Perceptual difference (ΔE): 30.4 — clearly different.
Plum and eggplant are both dark, rich purples associated with food, but they differ significantly in depth and warmth. Plum is a purple-pink, slightly lighter and warmer, named after the blush skin of a ripe plum fruit — a jewel-tone purple with some red warmth and visible richness. Eggplant is significantly darker and more red-purple, named after the deep, almost-black skin of the vegetable (known as aubergine in British English). Eggplant reads nearly as dark as navy or maroon in low light; plum stays clearly visible as a rich, warm purple.
How to tell them apart
Eggplant is much darker, approaching near-black with deep purple warmth; plum is visibly a jewel-tone purple even in reduced light. If you struggle to tell it from black or very dark maroon, it's eggplant; if it reads clearly as rich purple-pink, it's plum.
Color values
| HEX | #8E4585 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 142, 69, 133 |
| HSL | 307°, 35%, 41% |
| CMYK | 0, 51, 6, 44 |
| HEX | #614051 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 97, 64, 81 |
| HSL | 329°, 20%, 32% |
| CMYK | 0, 34, 16, 62 |
FAQ
- Is eggplant darker than plum?
- Yes, significantly. Eggplant is nearly black-purple; plum is a rich mid-purple visible as a colour even in dim conditions.
- Is plum more red or more purple than eggplant?
- Plum is warmer and more visibly purple-red; eggplant is so dark it obscures the hue difference.