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gray · neutral

#cfcac9

a light, muted gray · neutral · closest name: Light Gray

Token name suggestion: Linen Graphite

RGB
207, 202, 201
HSL
10°, 6%, 80%
CMYK
0, 2, 3, 19
Luminance
0.5972

#cfcac9 is a light muted gray, 10° on the wheel and 43/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.94:1). As text it scores 1.62:1 on white — use #7F7371 instead. Nearest name is Light Gray, nearest Tailwind family is neutral.

hsl(10 6% 80%)rgb(207 202 201)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfcac9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfcac9
Hue
10°
gray
Saturation
6%
muted
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5972
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
43/100 cool
Color family
Gray
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
12.94:1
Closest name
Light Gray
ΔE2000 3.1
Chroma
1.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.843
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
neutral
500 · ΔE 27.4
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue10° of 360°
Saturation6%
Lightness80%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #cfcac9.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool43% cool

Near-neutral, so temperature is a whisper rather than a statement — the tinted siblings below show which way it can lean.

Luminance by channel
Red22%
Green71%
Blue7%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#cfcac9
HEX (8-digit)#cfcac9ff
RGBrgb(207, 202, 201)
RGBArgba(207, 202, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(10, 6%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(10, 3%, 81%)
HWBhwb(10 79% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 2%, 3%, 19%)
LABlab(81.7 1.6 1.1)
LCHlch(81.7 1.9 35.6)
OKLCHoklch(0.843 0.006 31.1)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.39, 59.72, 63.75)
Decimal13617865
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.792 0.788)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfcac9;
background-color: #cfcac9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfcac9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfcac9] bg-[#cfcac9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfcac9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.792, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.792, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFCAC9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFCAC9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFCAC9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 202, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 202, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 202, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 202, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.7922f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,202,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfcac9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfcac9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#443D3C, #E2DFDF);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfcac9 h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-100: #F0EFEF;
  --brand-200: #E0DDDC;
  --brand-300: #cfcac9;
  --brand-400: #B0A8A6;
  --brand-500: #958A88;
  --brand-600: #827673;
  --brand-700: #6C6260;
  --brand-800: #564E4D;
  --brand-900: #413B3A;
  --brand-950: #282524;
  --brand: #cfcac9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-border: #D9D5D4;
  --brand-hover: #BEB7B6;
  --brand-pressed: #ADA5A3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1B1A;
    --brand-ink: #E2DFDF;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F0EFEF',
        200: '#E0DDDC',
        300: '#cfcac9',
        400: '#B0A8A6',
        500: '#958A88',
        600: '#827673',
        700: '#6C6260',
        800: '#564E4D',
        900: '#413B3A',
        950: '#282524',
        DEFAULT: '#cfcac9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F0EFEF,
  '200': #E0DDDC,
  '300': #cfcac9,
  '400': #B0A8A6,
  '500': #958A88,
  '600': #827673,
  '700': #6C6260,
  '800': #564E4D,
  '900': #413B3A,
  '950': #282524,
);
$brand-base: #cfcac9;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F8F7F7", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F0EFEF", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#E0DDDC", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#cfcac9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B0A8A6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#958A88", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#827673", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C6260", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#564E4D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#413B3A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#282524", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #cfcac9 · 12.94:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.62:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.94:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfcac9 as text scores 1.62:1 on white and 12.94:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #443D3C at 6.54:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#7F7371 · 4.57:1
AA on white−33% L
#7F7371
The quick fox
#5F5654 · 7.13:1
AAA on white−45% L
#5F5654
The quick fox
#cfcac9 · 12.94:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfcac9
The quick fox
#cfcac9 · 12.94:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfcac9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9D9290 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#cfcac9 on white: 1.62:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfcac9 on black: 12.94:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfcac9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfcac9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.62:1AaAa
Slate 501.55:1AaAa
Slate 1001.48:1AaAa
Slate 2001.32:1AaAa
Slate 3001.09:1AaAa
Slate 4001.58:1AaAa
Slate 5002.93:1AaAa
Slate 6004.67:1AaAa
Slate 7006.38:1AaAa
Slate 8009.02:1AaAa
Slate 90011.00:1AaAa
Black12.94:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CBCAC9
deuteranopia · #CCCBC9
tritanopia · #D0C9CA

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #cfcac9 is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F8F7F7
#F0EFEF
#E0DDDC
#cfcac9
#B0A8A6
#958A88
#827673
#6C6260
#564E4D
#413B3A
#282524
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #282524Text step on white = 700
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.001 31.1);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.002 31.1);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.003 31.1);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.004 31.1);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.005 31.1);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.006 31.1);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.006 31.1);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.005 31.1);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.005 31.1);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.004 31.1);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.003 31.1);
}

Colors that work with #cfcac9

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F8F7F7
Tinted page background
Border#D9D5D4
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#7A6E6C
Captions on the surface
Accent#5C706E
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#443D3C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F2F1
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1B1A
Dark-mode background
Hover#BEB7B6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#ADA5A3
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F4F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DDD2D0
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #cfcac9

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Borders, dividers and quiet backgrounds
  • Long-form reading surfaces
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Neutral UI chrome and typography
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #443D3C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9D9290

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

neutralquieteditorialengineered

Grey is the material the rest of the interface is built from: type, rules, surfaces, disabled states.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Mid-greys are where accessibility quietly fails — check every step of your ladder, not just the ends.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight20/100
  • TemperatureNeutral
  • ApproachabilityBalanced

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#C9CECF
Analogous left#CFC9CB
Analogous right#CFCDC9
Split-complement 1#C9CFCD
Split-complement 2#C9CBCF
Triadic 1#C9CFCA
Triadic 2#CAC9CF
Tetradic#CBCFC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°10°

#cfcac9 sits at 10°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green79.2%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
202
0xca
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta2.4%
Yellow2.9%
Key (black)18.8%

Total ink coverage is 24%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#cfcac9 text on a black background

contrast 12.94:1

Card sample

#cfcac9 text on a white background

contrast 1.62:1

Card sample

#cfcac9 on grey

1.48:1

#cfcac9 on its own surface

1.52:1

#cfcac9 on its dark surface

10.55:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfcac9;
Background color
Panel with #cfcac9 background
background-color: #cfcac9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfcac9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 202, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 202, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfcac9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfcac9, #CFCEC9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfcac9, #CFCFC9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfcac9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfcac9;
caret-color: #cfcac9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfcac9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F2F1;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfcac9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfcac9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfcac9 over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(207, 202, 201, 0.5)
rgb(207 202 201 / 50%)
#cfcac980
hsl(10 6% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfcac9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfcac91a#FAFAFA
20%#cfcac933#F5F4F4
40%#cfcac966#ECEAE9
60%#cfcac999#E2DFDF
80%#cfcac9cc#D9D5D4

Gradients from #cfcac9

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECEAE9, #cfcac9 45%, #443D3C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfcac9, #C1C0B9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfcac9, #C9CECF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F7F7 0%, #cfcac9 45%, #443D3C 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F8F7F7, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #E7E4E5 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #DDDCD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #443D3C 0%, transparent 65%), #cfcac9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfcac9

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#cfcac9 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
EditorialArchitectureEnterpriseLuxury goods
Common UI roles
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
Print note

Converts to four-color process without much drama. Proof it anyway.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 12.94:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#cfcac9, answered

What color is #cfcac9?

#cfcac9 is a light muted gray, closest to Light Gray (ΔE2000 3.1). It sits at 10° on the hue wheel with 6% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #cfcac9?

rgb(207, 202, 201) — 207 red, 202 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 79.2% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #cfcac9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(10, 6%, 80%) and hsv(10, 3%, 81%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #cfcac9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5972 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 12.94:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfcac9?

Black. It scores 12.94:1 against #cfcac9, versus 1.62:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfcac9 accessible on a white background?

#cfcac9 on white scores 1.62:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7F7371 to reach 4.5:1, or #5F5654 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfcac9?

#C9CECF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9CFCD and #C9CBCF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfcac9?

For interface work: #F8F7F7 as the surface, #D9D5D4 for borders, #7A6E6C for secondary text, #5C706E as an accent and #443D3C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CFC9CB and #CFCDC9 stays calm, while #C9CECF is the loudest partner.

What is #cfcac9 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 2%, 3%, 19%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #cfcac9 warm or cool?

Neutral — it scores 43 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #D8D0CB; nudged cooler, #BFC7CF.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #cfcac9?

The neutral family — its 500 step is #737373, ΔE2000 27.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfcac9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfcac9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfcac9] or text-[#cfcac9], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #cfcac9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 202, 201, 0.5), or #cfcac980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7E5E4; over black, #686565.

Is #cfcac9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 2.4 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfcac9 mean?

As a gray, it reads neutral, quiet, editorial. Grey is the material the rest of the interface is built from: type, rules, surfaces, disabled states. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #cfcac9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECEAE9, #cfcac9 45%, #443D3C). For more colour, a short hue run to #C1C0B9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfcac9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfcac9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.