Grey

This article is about the colour; for other uses of "grey" or "gray", see Grey (disambiguation).


— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#808080
RGB^B	r, g, b)	(128, 128, 128)
CMYK^H	c, m, y, k)	(0, 0, 0, 50)
HSV	h, s, v)	(-°, 0%, 50%)
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

Grey or gray (see spelling differences) is a colour seen commonly in nature. In pigment, or subtractive colour (CMYK), it is created by adding black. In light, or additive colour (RGB), it is created by adding equal amounts of R, G, and B, with R,G,B greater than 0% and less than 100% (greater than 0 and less than 255, in the 8-bit notation commonly used in computing). Depending on the colour temperature of the light (measured in kelvins of a black body radiator), the human eye can interpret the same object as either grey or some other colour, with colder light adding a yellow-orange hue and warmer light adding a blue hue.

Two colours are called complementary colours if grey is produced when two colours are combined. Grey is its own complement. Consequently, grey remains grey when its colour spectrum is inverted, and therefore has no opposite, or alternately is its own opposite.

Contents

1 Usage, symbolism and colloquial expressions

1.1 In fiction

2 Colour coordinates
3 Web colours
4 See also

Usage, symbolism and colloquial expressions

Grey symbolises mediocrity, the background noise.
* "Grey life", meaning mere existence without much sense or goal.
* A "grey person" is someone who goes unnoticed, a wallflower.
In a moral sense grey is either used
*pejoratively to describe situations that have no clear moral value, or
*positively to balance an all-black or all-white view (for example, shades of grey = magnitudes of good/bad)
Grey is associated with autumn, bad weather and sadness.
Grey has been used to describe the industrialism as it is the colour of granite, concrete and other city materials, as opposed to green to describe environmentalism, chlorophyll and plants.
Urban camouflage is composed of patches of shades of grey, while country camouflage uses ranges of brown and green.
Whilst the hair actually becomes white as one ages, it is often misinterpreted as grey (white next to others colours looking comparatively darker), and hence grey is associated with the elderly, and has inspired the name of the Gray Panthers and expressions such as Grey pound.
The substance that composes the brain is referred to as "grey matter", and for that reason the colour is associated with things intellectual.
In religion, grey is the colour of ashes, and therefore a biblical symbol of mourning and repentance. It can be used during Lent or on special days of fasting and prayer.
Grey was the colour of the Confederate Army uniforms in the American Civil War.
The "Grey Lady" is the nickname of the New York Times
Feldgrau (field grey) was a common colour of Wehrmacht uniforms.
Tiny grey aliens, with large, tear-shaped black eyes are refered to as "little greys" in popular UFO conspiracy theories.

In fiction

In Tolkien's works:
* Gandalf is called the Grey Pilgrim.
* The Grey Havens
* The Grey Elves
* The Grey Hills
In Michael Ende's Momo, the men in grey are malicious spirits who prey on people's time and trick them into "saving" it.
In The T*Witches series, those of magical power are described as having grey eyes.
Grey is the colour of Dr. Evil, in opposition to Austin Powers' bright colours.
Big Bad Wolf (Shrek) and Wolf 'o Donnald are grey-ish.
The Grey Council consists of the nine leaders of the Minbari in the Babylon 5 universe.
The Brenin Llwyd, the eponymous antagonist of The Grey King, by Susan Cooper.

Colour coordinates

RGB: All the grey values in greyscale are solutions of the inequality; :[ 0 \le ( R = G = B ) \le 255 ]
CMYK: All the grey values in greyscale are solutions of the inequality; :[ 0 \le K \le 255 ] when [ C = M = Y = 0 \,].; In theory it is also possible to achieve a greyscale with perfect inks when:; :[ C = M = Y \,] and [ K = 0 \,]
HSL: All the grey values in greyscale fit one of the following three equalities; :[S=0] or [L=0] (black) or [L=1] (white).
HSV: All the grey values in greyscale are solutions of the inequality; :[ 0 \le V \le 1 ] when [ H = S = 0 \,] .

Web colours

There are several shades of grey available for use with HTML and CSS. Oddly, all are spelled with an a except lightgrey: this can cause unexpected errors (this discrepancy is inherited from the X11 colour list). Note that some of these colours are not on the greyscale, but have a little saturation.

Name Sample
lightgrey
gray
darkgray
dimgray
lightslategray
slategray
darkslategray

Web colors	black	silver	gray	white	red	maroon	purple	fuchsia	green	lime	olive	yellow	orange	blue	navy	teal	aqua
Web colors

Name	Sample
lightgrey
gray
darkgray
dimgray
lightslategray
slategray
darkslategray

Grey

Usage, symbolism and colloquial expressions

In fiction

Colour coordinates

Web colours

See also