Maroon Color Meaning | Connotations & Hex Codes

If you’re looking for a bold shade of red that isn’t too intense or fiery, maroon could be the right choice.

This article explores the meanings maroon can express, provides inspiration for maroon color combinations, and gives you the color codes for shades of maroon and other similar colors.

You can refine the colors featured in this article by entering their hex codes into QuillBot’s free color wheel tool as the base color and adjusting the settings.

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What does maroon symbolize?

Balancing the intensity of a rich red and the grounded warmth of a dark brown, maroon straddles the line between bold, intense, and energetic and reliable, authoritative, and professional.

In branding design, you use maroon to:

• Project sophistication and tradition, making it a strong choice for luxury, heritage, and premium brands
• Communicate credibility and trust, which works well for law firms, financial services, and educational institutions
• Add warmth to palettes featuring bold colors, helping brand materials feel confident and distinctive without seeming too loud or aggressive

In interior design, you can use maroon to:

• Create warmth that makes spaces feel intimate, comfortable, and inviting
• Lend formal dining rooms, libraries, and studies warmth, elegance, and subtle drama
• Add depth to light spaces when used as an accent color

Maroon vs burgundy

Colors described as maroon are typically red with distinct brownish undertones, while colors described as burgundy are typically red with purplish undertones.

Other shades of red that are similar to maroon include claret (duller and more purple than maroon) and crimson (brighter and more vivid than maroon).

Maroon color code

The maroon hex code for the CSS color name “Maroon” is #800000.

CSS color names for similar colors to maroon are:

• DarkRed #8B0000
• FireBrick #B22222
• Brown #A52A2A
• Crimson #DC143C

Dark maroon color

If you want to produce an especially dark maroon color, enter the code #800000 into QuillBot’s free color wheel tool, and make it darker using the slider on the outer wheel.

Color conversion

Color variations

Maroon color combination

Explore these maroon color palettes for maroon color combination ideas for your project.

Gold, ivory white, and charcoal gray for luxury, heritage, or premium

If you want to view and refine these colors in QuillBot’s color wheel tool, enter the code #800000 for maroon, #C9A45C for gold, #F5F1E8 for ivory, and #2B2B2B for charcoal.

Navy blue, stone gray, and off-white for law firms, financial services, or educational institutions

If you want to view and refine these colors in QuillBot’s color wheel tool, enter the code #7A1E2C for maroon, #1F3A5F for navy, #A7A9AC for stone gray, and #F7F5F2 for off-white.

Mustard yellow, forest green, and gray for bold, confident, and distinctive

If you want to view and refine these colors in QuillBot’s color wheel tool, enter the code #7A1F3D for maroon, #C69214 for mustard yellow, #1F4D3A for forest green, and #E8DDD0 for gray.