diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 0629eb17c..655dcbca9 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ Detailed list of changes
 
 - Allow specifying where the new tab is created for :ac:`detach_window` (:pull:`7134`)
 
+- hints kitten: The option to set the text color for hints now allows arbitrary
+  colors (:pull:`7150`)
+
 
 0.32.2 [2024-02-12]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/kittens/hints/main.go b/kittens/hints/main.go
index 00b741920..068b72e86 100644
--- a/kittens/hints/main.go
+++ b/kittens/hints/main.go
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func main(_ *cli.Command, o *Options, args []string) (rc int, err error) {
 	fctx := style.Context{AllowEscapeCodes: true}
 	faint := fctx.SprintFunc("dim")
 	hint_style := fctx.SprintFunc(fmt.Sprintf("fg=%s bg=%s bold", o.HintsForegroundColor, o.HintsBackgroundColor))
-	text_style := fctx.SprintFunc(fmt.Sprintf("fg=bright-%s bold", o.HintsTextColor))
+	text_style := fctx.SprintFunc(fmt.Sprintf("fg=%s bold", o.HintsTextColor))
 
 	highlight_mark := func(m *Mark, mark_text string) string {
 		hint := encode_hint(m.Index, alphabet)
diff --git a/kittens/hints/main.py b/kittens/hints/main.py
index eebf9ea25..1a9c71e48 100644
--- a/kittens/hints/main.py
+++ b/kittens/hints/main.py
@@ -215,19 +215,25 @@ bottom.
 --hints-foreground-color
 default=black
 type=str
-The foreground color for hints.
+The foreground color for hints. You can use color names or hex values. For the eight basic
+named terminal colors you can also use the :code:`bright-` prefix to get the bright variant of the
+color.
 
 
 --hints-background-color
 default=green
 type=str
-The background color for hints.
+The background color for hints. You can use color names or hex values. For the eight basic
+named terminal colors you can also use the :code:`bright-` prefix to get the bright variant of the
+color.
 
 
 --hints-text-color
-default=gray
+default=bright-gray
 type=str
-The foreground color for text pointed to by the hints.
+The foreground color for text pointed to by the hints. You can use color names or hex values. For the eight basic
+named terminal colors you can also use the :code:`bright-` prefix to get the bright variant of the
+color.
 
 
 --customize-processing