Skip to content
gray · neutral

#cfcbc9

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

Token name suggestion: Linen Ash

RGB
207, 203, 201
HSL
20°, 6%, 80%
CMYK
0, 2, 3, 19
Luminance
0.6019

#cfcbc9 is a light muted gray, 20° on the wheel and 43/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (13.04:1). As text it scores 1.61:1 on white — use #7C736E instead. Nearest name is Light Gray, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(20 6% 80%)rgb(207 203 201)Base step 300AAA inkNeutral

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #cfcbc9 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#cfcbc9
Hue
20°
gray
Saturation
6%
muted
Lightness
80%
light
Brightness
81%
HSV value
Perceived
80%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.6019
WCAG relative
Temperature
Neutral
43/100 cool
Color family
Gray
Tone
Muted
Best ink
Black
13.04:1
Closest name
Light Gray
ΔE2000 2.7
Chroma
1.8
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.845
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 26.3
Web-safe
#CCCCCC
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue20° 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 #cfcbc9.

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#cfcbc9
HEX (8-digit)#cfcbc9ff
RGBrgb(207, 203, 201)
RGBArgba(207, 203, 201, 1)
HSLhsl(20, 6%, 80%)
HSV / HSBhsv(20, 3%, 81%)
HWBhwb(20 79% 19%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 2%, 3%, 19%)
LABlab(81.9 1.0 1.5)
LCHlch(81.9 1.8 55.4)
OKLCHoklch(0.845 0.005 48.7)
XYZ (D65)xyz(57.63, 60.19, 63.83)
Decimal13618121
Display P3color(display-p3 0.812 0.796 0.788)
Web-safe#CCCCCC

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #cfcbc9;
background-color: #cfcbc9;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #cfcbc9;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#cfcbc9] bg-[#cfcbc9]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #cfcbc9;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.812, green: 0.796, blue: 0.788)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.812, green: 0.796, blue: 0.788, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#CFCBC9</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFCFCBC9)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFCFCBC9)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(201, 203, 207)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(207, 203, 201)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(207, 203, 201)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 207, 203, 201)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.8118f, 0.7961f, 0.7882f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{207,203,201}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #cfcbc9 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #cfcbc9 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#443E3C, #E2E0DF);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #cfcbc9 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: #cfcbc9;
  --brand-400: #B0A9A6;
  --brand-500: #958D88;
  --brand-600: #827873;
  --brand-700: #6C6460;
  --brand-800: #56504D;
  --brand-900: #413C3A;
  --brand-950: #282624;
  --brand: #cfcbc9;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F8F7F7;
  --brand-border: #D9D5D4;
  --brand-hover: #BEB9B6;
  --brand-pressed: #ADA7A3;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #1E1B1A;
    --brand-ink: #E2E0DF;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F8F7F7',
        100: '#F0EFEF',
        200: '#E0DDDC',
        300: '#cfcbc9',
        400: '#B0A9A6',
        500: '#958D88',
        600: '#827873',
        700: '#6C6460',
        800: '#56504D',
        900: '#413C3A',
        950: '#282624',
        DEFAULT: '#cfcbc9',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F8F7F7,
  '100': #F0EFEF,
  '200': #E0DDDC,
  '300': #cfcbc9,
  '400': #B0A9A6,
  '500': #958D88,
  '600': #827873,
  '700': #6C6460,
  '800': #56504D,
  '900': #413C3A,
  '950': #282624,
);
$brand-base: #cfcbc9;
$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": "#cfcbc9", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#B0A9A6", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#958D88", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#827873", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#6C6460", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#56504D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#413C3A", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#282624", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$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 #cfcbc9 · 13.04:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.61:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 13.04:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #cfcbc9 as text scores 1.61:1 on white and 13.04:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #443E3C at 6.52:1.

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
#7C736E · 4.63:1
AA on white−34% L
#7C736E
The quick fox
#5F5754 · 7.05:1
AAA on white−45% L
#5F5754
The quick fox
#cfcbc9 · 13.04:1
AA on blackalready passes
#cfcbc9
The quick fox
#cfcbc9 · 13.04:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#cfcbc9

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #9A928E 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
#cfcbc9 on white: 1.61:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#cfcbc9 on black: 13.04:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #cfcbc9 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #cfcbc9.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.61:1AaAa
Slate 501.54:1AaAa
Slate 1001.47:1AaAa
Slate 2001.31:1AaAa
Slate 3001.08:1AaAa
Slate 4001.59:1AaAa
Slate 5002.95:1AaAa
Slate 6004.70:1AaAa
Slate 7006.43:1AaAa
Slate 8009.08:1AaAa
Slate 90011.08:1AaAa
Black13.04:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #CCCBC9
deuteranopia · #CDCCC9
tritanopia · #D0CACA

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. #cfcbc9 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
#cfcbc9
#B0A9A6
#958D88
#827873
#6C6460
#56504D
#413C3A
#282624
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F8F7F7Darkest = 950 · #282624Text 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 48.7);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.002 48.7);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.003 48.7);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.004 48.7);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.005 48.7);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.005 48.7);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.005 48.7);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.005 48.7);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.004 48.7);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.004 48.7);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.003 48.7);
}

Colors that work with #cfcbc9

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#7A706C
Captions on the surface
Accent#5C6E70
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#443E3C
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#F3F2F1
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#1E1B1A
Dark-mode background
Hover#BEB9B6
One step down in lightness
Pressed#ADA7A3
Two steps down
Disabled#F5F5F4
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#DDD4D0
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 #cfcbc9

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 #443E3C
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #9A928E

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#C9CDCF
Analogous left#CFC9CA
Analogous right#CFCEC9
Split-complement 1#C9CFCE
Split-complement 2#C9CACF
Triadic 1#C9CFCB
Triadic 2#CBC9CF
Tetradic#CACFC9
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°20°

#cfcbc9 sits at 20°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red81.2%
Green79.6%
Blue78.8%
R · 0–255
207
0xcf
G · 0–255
203
0xcb
B · 0–255
201
0xc9

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta1.9%
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

#cfcbc9 text on a black background

contrast 13.04:1

Card sample

#cfcbc9 text on a white background

contrast 1.61:1

Card sample

#cfcbc9 on grey

1.47:1

#cfcbc9 on its own surface

1.51:1

#cfcbc9 on its dark surface

10.63:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #cfcbc9;
Background color
Panel with #cfcbc9 background
background-color: #cfcbc9;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #cfcbc9;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(207, 203, 201, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(207, 203, 201, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #cfcbc9;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #cfcbc9, #CFCFC9);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfcbc9, #CECFC9);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #cfcbc9;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #cfcbc9;
caret-color: #cfcbc9;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #cfcbc9;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #F3F2F1;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #cfcbc9;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#cfcbc9 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #cfcbc9 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, 203, 201, 0.5)
rgb(207 203 201 / 50%)
#cfcbc980
hsl(20 6% 80% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #cfcbc9 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#cfcbc91a#FAFAFA
20%#cfcbc933#F5F5F4
40%#cfcbc966#ECEAE9
60%#cfcbc999#E2E0DF
80%#cfcbc9cc#D9D5D4

Gradients from #cfcbc9

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, #cfcbc9 45%, #443E3C);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #cfcbc9, #C0C1B9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #cfcbc9, #C9CDCF);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F8F7F7 0%, #cfcbc9 45%, #443E3C 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%, #DDDDD9 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #443E3C 0%, transparent 65%), #cfcbc9;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #cfcbc9

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.

#cfcbc9 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 13.04:1.

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.

#cfcbc9, answered

What color is #cfcbc9?

#cfcbc9 is a light muted gray, closest to Light Gray (ΔE2000 2.7). It sits at 20° on the hue wheel with 6% saturation and 80% lightness, which reads as neutral.

What is the RGB value of #cfcbc9?

rgb(207, 203, 201) — 207 red, 203 green and 201 blue out of 255, or 81.2% / 79.6% / 78.8% by channel.

What is #cfcbc9 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(20, 6%, 80%) and hsv(20, 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 #cfcbc9 a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.6019 and perceived brightness is 80%, so black text on it reaches 13.04:1.

Should I use black or white text on #cfcbc9?

Black. It scores 13.04:1 against #cfcbc9, versus 1.61:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #cfcbc9 accessible on a white background?

#cfcbc9 on white scores 1.61:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #7C736E to reach 4.5:1, or #5F5754 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #cfcbc9?

#C9CDCF sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #C9CFCE and #C9CACF, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #cfcbc9?

For interface work: #F8F7F7 as the surface, #D9D5D4 for borders, #7A706C for secondary text, #5C6E70 as an accent and #443E3C for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #CFC9CA and #CFCEC9 stays calm, while #C9CDCF is the loudest partner.

What is #cfcbc9 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 #cfcbc9 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 #cfcbc9?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 26.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #cfcbc9 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #cfcbc9 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#cfcbc9] or text-[#cfcbc9], 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 #cfcbc9 with 50% opacity?

rgba(207, 203, 201, 0.5), or #cfcbc980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #E7E5E4; over black, #686665.

Is #cfcbc9 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #CCCCCC, ΔE2000 2 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #cfcbc9 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 #cfcbc9?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #ECEAE9, #cfcbc9 45%, #443E3C). For more colour, a short hue run to #C0C1B9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #cfcbc9 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #cfcbc9 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.