#808080Gray is a mid-toned neutral — a gray that works as a supporting color rather than a statement. Also written as grey in CSS — both spellings resolve to #808080.
Gray sits at 50% lightness with almost no saturation, which makes it a true workhorse neutral. In practice it behaves best as a border, divider or secondary-text color: it stays out of the way, lets accent colors do the talking, and pairs safely with nearly any hue on the wheel.
Gray is bright enough that it pairs better with dark text than white: black type on gray hits 5.32:1 — past the WCAG AA threshold — while white manages only 3.95:1. It shines as a section background, card fill or subtle highlight where a full-strength accent would shout.
Every palette below is computed from gray's position on the color wheel (hue 0°). Hover any swatch to see its code; click to copy.
Tints mix gray 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 gray 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 Gray | 3.95:1 | Fail | AA |
| Black text on Gray | 5.32:1 | AA | AAA |
#808080#808080#808080Copy-ready snippets. In CSS you can also use the keyword gray directly.
:root {
--gray: #808080;
--gray-rgb: 128, 128, 128;
--gray-tint: #B9B9B9;
--gray-shade: #464646;
}
.btn-gray {
background: var(--gray);
color: #000000;
}// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
'gray': {
DEFAULT: '#808080',
light: '#B9B9B9',
dark: '#464646',
},
}The closest CSS named colors by perceptual (Lab) distance.