Cadet Gray #CED4DA

About this color

#CED4DA is a light close to neutral grey. In OKLCH its lightness is 87%, its chroma 0.011. It has too little chroma to lean warm or cool. It is the named color Cadet Gray. Black text reads best on it, at 14.05:1.

Colors that go with Cadet Gray

Matches found by rotating Cadet Gray around the OKLCH hue wheel, each labelled with the closest name in our list.

Cadet Gray is close to neutral, so it has no hue to rotate. It pairs with almost any color; try the palettes below.

Color palettes with Cadet Gray

Curated color palettes that contain a color within ΔE 0.06 (OKLab) of Cadet Gray, closest first.

• Slate Agenda
• Granite Folder
• Paper Archive
• Granite Range
• Tarn and Scree
• Clay Workshop
• Mandarin Crate
• Champagne and Blush

Similar named colors

The eight named colors closest to Cadet Gray, with their ΔE distance.

• Light Gray #D3D3D3 ΔE 0.011
• Gainsboro #DCDCDC ΔE 0.029
• Pale Silver #D8E2DC ΔE 0.040
• Light Blue #ADD8E6 ΔE 0.041
• Platinum #E0E1DD ΔE 0.043
• Powder Blue #B0E0E6 ΔE 0.044
• Celeste #A8DADC ΔE 0.047
• Light Blue Grey #B7C9E2 ΔE 0.047

More about Cadet Gray

• Shades of gray
• What gray means

How to make Cadet Gray

A starting recipe from common paint colors, found with a spectral paint model (the color mixer’s paint mode). Real pigments vary, so mix a small test batch and adjust.

• 2 parts white
• 1 part gray

Recipe result: #DADADA, a difference of ΔE 0.023 from Cadet Gray. That is very close: most people will not see the difference.

What colors make gray? | Color mixing chart

Codes for Cadet Gray in every format

Contrast

WCAG 2 contrast ratios are the conformance target: AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text, AAA needs 7:1. APCA Lc values are supplementary guidance from the WCAG 3 drafts.

Shades and tints of Cadet Gray

A 50–950 scale built in OKLCH: the hue is held, lightness follows a Tailwind v4-like curve, and every step is kept inside the sRGB gamut. This color sits at step 200.

1. Step 50

   50

   #F4F5F7

   oklch(97% 0.003 264.5)

2. Step 100

   100

   #E8EAEC

   oklch(93.6% 0.003 247.9)

3. Step 200

   200 (this color)

   #CED4DA

   oklch(86.7% 0.011 247.9)

4. Step 300

   300

   #BAC2C9

   oklch(81% 0.013 244.3)

5. Step 400

   400

   #96A2AE

   oklch(70.7% 0.022 248.1)

6. Step 500

   500

   #7D8B9A

   oklch(63.1% 0.028 250.1)

7. Step 600

   600

   #667585

   oklch(55.6% 0.031 250.1)

8. Step 700

   700

   #546270

   oklch(49% 0.028 248.4)

9. Step 800

   800

   #45505B

   oklch(42.6% 0.023 248.4)

10. Step 900

    900

    #3A434B

    oklch(37.8% 0.018 245.1)

11. Step 950

    950

    #22272C

    oklch(27% 0.012 248.3)

Export this scale for Tailwind in the Tailwind colors tool

Cadet Gray with color blindness

Simulated with the Machado et al. (2009) model. ΔE is how far the color moves: below about 0.02 you would not notice a change.