Tailwind CSS v3 color

Tailwind neutral-500 #737373

Tailwind CSS v3's neutral-500 is #737373. It is a gray in the neutral family. In OKLCH it sits at lightness 0.556 with chroma 0.000, too low for hue to matter. The nearest CSS named color is dimgray (#696969), ΔE2000 3.9 away.

Relative luminance: 0.1714
OKLCH L · C · h: 0.556 · 0.000 · —
Best text: White 4.74:1
Hue family: Neutral

Inspect this color Check contrast

#737373 color codes

HEX: #737373
RGB: rgb(115, 115, 115)
HSL: hsl(0, 0%, 45%)
OKLCH: oklch(0.556 0.000 0)
OKLab: oklab(0.556 0.000 0.000)
CIELAB (D65): L* 48.44, a* 0.00, b* 0.00
XYZ (D65): X 16.29, Y 17.14, Z 18.67
CMYK (naive): cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 55%)

CIELAB and XYZ use the D65 white point; CSS lab() uses D50, so paste the OKLCH or HEX value into stylesheets. CMYK here is a plain formula with no press profile.

Legibility

Contrast: is #737373 accessible?

White text on it reaches 4.74:1, passing AA. Black text manages only 4.42:1, enough for large text only.

WCAG 2 gives the same ratio whichever color is the text; APCA does not, so its Lc changes sign and size with polarity.

Open the Contrast System

Black text on it

4.42:1
- AA fails
- AA large passes
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc +31
White text on it

4.74:1
- AA passes
- AA large passes
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc −78
As text on black

4.42:1
- AA fails
- AA large passes
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc −28
As text on white

4.74:1
- AA passes
- AA large passes
- AAA fails
- APCA Lc +72

Nearest versions that pass 4.5:1

For text on white

#737373 4.74:1

It already reaches 4.74:1 on white, so no change is needed.
For text on black

#767676 4.62:1

Lightening its OKLCH lightness from 0.56 to 0.57 reaches 4.62:1 on black, keeping the hue.

Compare both in the Contrast System

Checking another pair? Use the Contrast Checker.

Studio

Adjust #737373 live

Move lightness, chroma and hue in OKLCH, or drag on the map. The map is every lightness and chroma at the current hue: sRGB inside the solid area, Display P3 out to the dashed line.

The studio needs JavaScript.

Scale

Shades and tints of #737373

Eleven OKLCH lightness steps at this hue, each with its contrast against white and black. #737373 sits at step 600.

50#F5F5F5
White
1.09
Black
19.26
100#EBEBEB

White
1.19
Black
17.61
200#D7D7D7
White
1.43
Black
14.59
300#BEBEBE

White
1.85
Black
11.29
400#A1A1A1

White
2.58
Black
8.12
500#868686

White
3.64
Black
5.76
600This color#737373

White
4.74
Black
4.42
700#585858

White
7.11
Black
2.95
800#404040
White
10.36
Black
2.02
900#292929

White
14.54
Black
1.44
950#161616

White
18.09
Black
1.16

Under each step, white and black text on it; a bold figure passes 4.5:1.

Tailwind CSS v3 neutral scale

The real Tailwind palette, for comparison with the computed ramp above.

50#FAFAFA
White
1.04
Black
20.11
100#F5F5F5
White
1.09
Black
19.26
200#E5E5E5
White
1.25
Black
16.67
300#D4D4D4
White
1.48
Black
14.16
400#A3A3A3
White
2.52
Black
8.32
500This color#737373

White
4.74
Black
4.42
600#525252
White
7.81
Black
2.68
700#404040
White
10.36
Black
2.02
800#262626
White
15.13
Black
1.38
900#171717
White
17.92
Black
1.17
950#0A0A0A
White
19.79
Black
1.06

Gamut

How vivid #737373 can get

A gray has no hue, so no gamut holds a more vivid version of #737373: more chroma would make it another color.

sRGB
Display P3
Rec. 2020
Dominant wavelength

OKLCH chroma: 0.000
sRGB edge: No hue
Display P3 edge: No hue
Rec. 2020 edge: No hue
Dominant wavelength: None, near white
Excitation purity: 0%
Chromaticity: x 0.3127, y 0.3290

Mixing

Mixing #737373

Each row is the same mix worked out in a different space, with the halfway color at its end. sRGB, which older CSS gradients use, can sag gray or dark in the middle; OKLab keeps the lightness steps even; OKLCH holds chroma and hue as it goes.

White #FFFFFF

sRGB50%#B9B9B9
OKLab50%#B6B6B6
OKLCH50%#B6B6B6

Black #000000

sRGB50%#3A3A3A
OKLab50%#282828
OKLCH50%#282828

In CSS

/* A gradient and a mix, worked out in OKLCH */
background: linear-gradient(in oklch, #737373, white);
color: color-mix(in oklch, #737373 50%, white);

In use

#737373 in an interface

A button, a link, a heading, a focused field, an icon and a chart line in this color, on a light page and a dark one. Each check is a WCAG 2 contrast minimum: 1.4.3 for text, 1.4.11 for the rest.

Light page

Button labelText, 4.5:14.74:1 Passes
Link and body-size textText, 4.5:14.74:1 Passes
Large headingLarge text, 3:14.74:1 Passes
Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:14.74:1 Passes

Dark page

Button labelText, 4.5:14.74:1 Passes
Link and body-size textText, 4.5:13.95:1 Fails
Large headingLarge text, 3:13.95:1 Passes
Icons, borders and focus ringsNon-text, 3:13.95:1 Passes

For text on this page, the nearest shade that passes is #7D7D7D 4.55:1

Color vision

How #737373 looks with color blindness

As a neutral it barely changes under any simulation, ΔE2000 0.0 at most.

Simulated with Machado et al. (2009) at full severity, in linear light.

Simulate a whole page What each type sees

Protanopia

No working red (long-wavelength) cones

#737373 ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as gray
Deuteranopia

No working green (medium-wavelength) cones

#737373 ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as gray
Tritanopia

No working blue (short-wavelength) cones

#737373 ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as gray
Achromatopsia

No cone color vision; lightness only

#737373 ΔE2000 0.0

Imperceptible

Reads as gray

Pairing check

A near-neutral has no complementary hue to pair with, so tell it apart from neighboring grays by lightness contrast alone.

Harmony

Color harmonies for #737373

A neutral has no hue to rotate, so every harmony collapses back to the same gray. Pair it with an accent color instead.

Or pair it by lightness: steps of its own scale as text on it, and what each can carry.

Build a lightness scale in Harmony Studio

Step 950 #161616 · 3.81:1

Large text, icons and borders
Step 700 #585858 · 1.50:1

Decoration only, under 3:1
Step 300 #BEBEBE · 2.55:1

Decoration only, under 3:1

Code

Design tokens

Ready-to-paste tokens in six formats. Rename them to fit your system.

CSS custom property

:root {
  --color-neutral-500: #737373;
}

Tailwind config

// tailwind.config.js — already built in as neutral-500;
// pin the v3 value explicitly like this:
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        neutral: { 500: '#737373' },
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 theme

/* app.css — Tailwind CSS v4 */
@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  /* v4 has its own neutral-500; this pins the v3 value. */
  --color-neutral-500: oklch(0.556 0.000 0);
}

Design token (W3C DTCG)

{
  "color": {
    "neutral-500": {
      "$type": "color",
      "$value": {
        "colorSpace": "srgb",
        "components": [0.451, 0.451, 0.451],
        "hex": "#737373"
      },
      "$description": "Tailwind CSS v3 neutral-500"
    }
  }
}

SwiftUI color

import SwiftUI

enum Palette {
    static let neutral500 = Color(.sRGB, red: 0.451, green: 0.451, blue: 0.451, opacity: 1)
}

Jetpack Compose color

import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

object Palette {
    val Neutral500 = Color(0xFF737373)
}

Matches

The nearest match in each system

The closest CSS name, Tailwind shade, RAL Classic paint and Crayola crayon by ΔE2000; under 2 is hard to tell apart side by side. RAL and Crayola values approximate physical colors.

Tools

Open #737373 in the tools

Each opens over this page. More colors live in the Color Library, and every color page is listed on the hub.