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near-white · cool

#e9ebec

a pale, muted near-white · cool · closest name: White Smoke

Token name suggestion: Whisper Bone

RGB
233, 235, 236
HSL
200°, 7%, 92%
CMYK
1, 0, 0, 8
Luminance
0.8280

#e9ebec is a pale muted near-white, 200° on the wheel and 60/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (17.56:1). As text it scores 1.20:1 on white — use #6D787E instead. Nearest name is White Smoke, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(200 7% 92%)rgb(233 235 236)Base step 100AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #e9ebec is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#e9ebec
Hue
200°
near-white
Saturation
7%
muted
Lightness
92%
pale
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
92%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.8280
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
60/100 cool
Color family
Near-white
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
17.56:1
Closest name
White Smoke
ΔE2000 2.4
Chroma
0.9
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.939
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 27.4
Web-safe
#FFFFFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue200° of 360°
Saturation7%
Lightness92%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #e9ebec.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool60% 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
Red21%
Green72%
Blue7%

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

Every format

HEX#e9ebec
HEX (8-digit)#e9ebecff
RGBrgb(233, 235, 236)
RGBArgba(233, 235, 236, 1)
HSLhsl(200, 7%, 92%)
HSV / HSBhsv(200, 1%, 93%)
HWBhwb(200 91% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(1%, 0%, 0%, 8%)
LABlab(92.9 -0.5 -0.7)
LCHlch(92.9 0.9 235.8)
OKLCHoklch(0.939 0.003 228.8)
XYZ (D65)xyz(78.45, 82.80, 91.19)
Decimal15330284
Display P3color(display-p3 0.914 0.922 0.925)
Web-safe#FFFFFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #e9ebec;
background-color: #e9ebec;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #e9ebec;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#e9ebec] bg-[#e9ebec]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #e9ebec;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.914, green: 0.922, blue: 0.925)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.914, green: 0.922, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#E9EBEC</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFE9EBEC)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFE9EBEC)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(236, 235, 233)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(233, 235, 236)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(233, 235, 236)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 233, 235, 236)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9137f, 0.9216f, 0.9255f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{233,235,236}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #e9ebec 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #e9ebec 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#3B4144, #DEE1E3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #e9ebec 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: #F7F7F8;
  --brand-100: #e9ebec;
  --brand-200: #DCDFE0;
  --brand-300: #C3C8CB;
  --brand-400: #A5ADB1;
  --brand-500: #879297;
  --brand-600: #717D83;
  --brand-700: #5F686D;
  --brand-800: #4C5458;
  --brand-900: #393F41;
  --brand-950: #242729;
  --brand: #e9ebec;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F7F8F8;
  --brand-border: #D3D7D9;
  --brand-hover: #D6DADC;
  --brand-pressed: #C3C8CB;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1A1D1E;
    --brand-ink: #DEE1E3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F7F7F8',
        100: '#e9ebec',
        200: '#DCDFE0',
        300: '#C3C8CB',
        400: '#A5ADB1',
        500: '#879297',
        600: '#717D83',
        700: '#5F686D',
        800: '#4C5458',
        900: '#393F41',
        950: '#242729',
        DEFAULT: '#e9ebec',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F7F7F8,
  '100': #e9ebec,
  '200': #DCDFE0,
  '300': #C3C8CB,
  '400': #A5ADB1,
  '500': #879297,
  '600': #717D83,
  '700': #5F686D,
  '800': #4C5458,
  '900': #393F41,
  '950': #242729,
);
$brand-base: #e9ebec;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F7F7F8", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#e9ebec", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#DCDFE0", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#C3C8CB", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#A5ADB1", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#879297", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#717D83", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#5F686D", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#4C5458", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#393F41", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#242729", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #e9ebec · 17.56:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.20:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 17.56:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #e9ebec as text scores 1.20:1 on white and 17.56:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #3B4144 at 8.67:1.

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
#6D787E · 4.53:1
AA on white−46% L
#6D787E
The quick fox
#50595D · 7.17:1
AAA on white−58% L
#50595D
The quick fox
#e9ebec · 17.56:1
AA on blackalready passes
#e9ebec
The quick fox
#e9ebec · 17.56:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#e9ebec

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #899499 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
#e9ebec on white: 1.20:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#e9ebec on black: 17.56:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #e9ebec as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #e9ebec.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.20:1AaAa
Slate 501.14:1AaAa
Slate 1001.09:1AaAa
Slate 2001.03:1AaAa
Slate 3001.24:1AaAa
Slate 4002.14:1AaAa
Slate 5003.98:1AaAa
Slate 6006.34:1AaAa
Slate 7008.66:1AaAa
Slate 80012.23:1AaAa
Slate 90014.93:1AaAa
Black17.56:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #EAEBEC
deuteranopia · #EAEAEC
tritanopia · #E8EBEB

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. #e9ebec is pinned to step 100; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F7F7F8
#e9ebec
#DCDFE0
#C3C8CB
#A5ADB1
#879297
#717D83
#5F686D
#4C5458
#393F41
#242729
Base = 100Lightest = 50 · #F7F7F8Darkest = 950 · #242729Text 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 0.001 228.8);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.001 228.8);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.003 228.8);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.003 228.8);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.002 228.8);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.001 228.8);
}

Colors that work with #e9ebec

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#F7F8F8
Tinted page background
Border#D3D7D9
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#6A767B
Captions on the surface
Accent#725F5A
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#3B4144
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F1F3F3
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1A1D1E
Dark-mode background
Hover#D6DADC
One step down in lightness
Pressed#C3C8CB
Two steps down
Disabled#F4F5F6
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#E7ECEE
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 #e9ebec

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 #3B4144
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #899499

Meaning and mood

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

cleanopencalmconsidered

Off-whites do the work of white without the glare, and give shadows something to land on.

With almost no chroma left, the family association is barely present; treat it as a neutral that happens to lean this way. The high lightness makes it recede — a surface colour rather than a statement.

Worth knowing

Too many near-whites in one system look like a mistake rather than a decision. Keep two, maximum.

Reads as
  • FormalityMedium
  • EnergyLow
  • Weight8/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • 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#ECEAE9
Analogous left#E9ECEC
Analogous right#E9EAEC
Split-complement 1#ECE9EA
Split-complement 2#ECECE9
Triadic 1#ECE9EB
Triadic 2#EBECE9
Tetradic#ECE9EC
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°200°

#e9ebec sits at 200°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red91.4%
Green92.2%
Blue92.5%
R · 0–255
233
0xe9
G · 0–255
235
0xeb
B · 0–255
236
0xec

CMYK percentages

Cyan1.3%
Magenta0.4%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 9%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#e9ebec text on a black background

contrast 17.56:1

Card sample

#e9ebec text on a white background

contrast 1.20:1

Card sample

#e9ebec on grey

1.09:1

#e9ebec on its own surface

1.12:1

#e9ebec on its dark surface

14.18:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #e9ebec;
Background color
Panel with #e9ebec background
background-color: #e9ebec;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #e9ebec;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(233, 235, 236, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(233, 235, 236, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #e9ebec;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #e9ebec, #E9E9EC);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e9ebec, #EAE9EC);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #e9ebec;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #e9ebec;
caret-color: #e9ebec;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #e9ebec;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F1F3F3;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #e9ebec;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#e9ebec 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #e9ebec 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(233, 235, 236, 0.5)
rgb(233 235 236 / 50%)
#e9ebec80
hsl(200 7% 92% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #e9ebec 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#e9ebec1a#FDFDFD
20%#e9ebec33#FBFBFB
40%#e9ebec66#F6F7F7
60%#e9ebec99#F2F3F4
80%#e9ebeccc#EDEFF0

Gradients from #e9ebec

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, #F4F5F6, #e9ebec 45%, #3B4144);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #e9ebec, #D9D9DE);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #e9ebec, #ECEAE9);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F7F8F8 0%, #e9ebec 45%, #3B4144 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F7F8F8, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #FFFFFF 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #FAFAFA 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #3B4144 0%, transparent 65%), #e9ebec;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #e9ebec

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.

#e9ebec in the real world

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

Industries
EditorialSkincareArchitectureMinimal retail
Common UI roles
BackgroundsBordersBody textDividers
Print note

Very light tints can drop out on uncoated stock; check it at 100% size before signing off.

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 17.56:1.

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.

#e9ebec, answered

What color is #e9ebec?

#e9ebec is a pale muted near-white, closest to White Smoke (ΔE2000 2.4). It sits at 200° on the hue wheel with 7% saturation and 92% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #e9ebec?

rgb(233, 235, 236) — 233 red, 235 green and 236 blue out of 255, or 91.4% / 92.2% / 92.5% by channel.

What is #e9ebec in HSL and HSV?

hsl(200, 7%, 92%) and hsv(200, 1%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #e9ebec a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.8280 and perceived brightness is 92%, so black text on it reaches 17.56:1.

Should I use black or white text on #e9ebec?

Black. It scores 17.56:1 against #e9ebec, versus 1.20:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #e9ebec accessible on a white background?

#e9ebec on white scores 1.20:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #6D787E to reach 4.5:1, or #50595D for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #e9ebec?

#ECEAE9 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #ECE9EA and #ECECE9, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #e9ebec?

For interface work: #F7F8F8 as the surface, #D3D7D9 for borders, #6A767B for secondary text, #725F5A as an accent and #3B4144 for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #E9ECEC and #E9EAEC stays calm, while #ECEAE9 is the loudest partner.

What is #e9ebec in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(1%, 0%, 0%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — ask your printer for a proof before committing to a run.

Is #e9ebec warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 60 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #F2EFEE; nudged cooler, #E2E5E9.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #e9ebec?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 27.4 away. That is a visible difference, so define #e9ebec as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #e9ebec in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#e9ebec] or text-[#e9ebec], 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 #e9ebec with 50% opacity?

rgba(233, 235, 236, 0.5), or #e9ebec80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F4F5F6; over black, #757676.

Is #e9ebec a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FFFFFF, ΔE2000 4.3 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #e9ebec mean?

As a near-white, it reads clean, open, calm. Off-whites do the work of white without the glare, and give shadows something to land on. At this low chroma the association is faint; it behaves more like a neutral.

What gradient works with #e9ebec?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F4F5F6, #e9ebec 45%, #3B4144). For more colour, a short hue run to #D9D9DE keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #e9ebec in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #e9ebec at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.