#DCDCDCGainsboro is a light neutral — a near-white that works as a supporting color rather than a statement.
Gainsboro sits at 86% lightness with almost no saturation, which makes it a true workhorse neutral. In practice it behaves best as a page background or surface color: it stays out of the way, lets accent colors do the talking, and pairs safely with nearly any hue on the wheel.
Gainsboro is light enough that it pairs better with dark text than white: black type on gainsboro hits 15.31:1 — comfortably past the WCAG AA threshold — while white manages only 1.37:1. It shines as a section background, card fill or subtle highlight where a full-strength accent would shout.
Every palette below is computed from gainsboro's position on the color wheel (hue 0°). Hover any swatch to see its code; click to copy.
Tints mix gainsboro toward white; shades mix it toward black. Use the scale for hover states, borders and depth without leaving the hue.
WCAG 2.1 requires 4.5:1 for normal text (AA) and 3:1 for large text. Here's how gainsboro performs, plus how it appears under the three main types of dichromatic color blindness (simulated approximation).
| Pairing | Ratio | Normal text | Large text |
|---|---|---|---|
| White text on Gainsboro | 1.37:1 | Fail | Fail |
| Black text on Gainsboro | 15.31:1 | AAA | AAA |
#DCDCDC#DCDCDC#DCDCDCCopy-ready snippets. In CSS you can also use the keyword gainsboro directly.
:root {
--gainsboro: #DCDCDC;
--gainsboro-rgb: 220, 220, 220;
--gainsboro-tint: #ECECEC;
--gainsboro-shade: #797979;
}
.btn-gainsboro {
background: var(--gainsboro);
color: #000000;
}// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
'gainsboro': {
DEFAULT: '#DCDCDC',
light: '#ECECEC',
dark: '#797979',
},
}The closest CSS named colors by perceptual (Lab) distance.