Dark Gray color: #a9a9a9
The CSS keyword darkgray (also written darkgrey) is #a9a9a9, rgb(169, 169, 169) or hsl(0, 0%, 66%). Its codes to copy, 50–950 tint scale, harmonies and contrast on white and black.
Part of design tools.
About Dark Gray
Dark Gray is a neutral gray at 73% perceived lightness, with no hue at all. Having no hue, it reads the same in every color space: only its lightness changes between notations.
The keyword darkgray comes from the X Window System color list, which SVG 1.0 adopted and CSS Color Level 3 brought to every stylesheet. It can also be written darkgrey: same value, and both spellings work in any stylesheet.
Despite its name, darkgray (#a9a9a9) is lighter than gray (#808080): it comes from the X11 list, where gray itself was #bebebe, while CSS gray kept the HTML 4 value. dimgray (#696969) is the one that is actually darker.
Dark Gray tint scale, 50 to 950
Eleven neutral steps at fixed perceived lightness, in OKLCH: every pure grey shares this scale, and what sets each one apart is where it sits on it. The keyword itself falls closest to step 400 (#a1a1a1), the one outlined; step 500 is #868686.
Harmonies built on Dark Gray
Dark Gray has no hue, so there is nothing to rotate: a complementary or triadic scheme would give back the same grey. What remains is the monochromatic scheme — the same neutral at four lightness steps.
Monochromatic
Dark Gray on white and on black
Black text reads better on darkgray (8.93:1). As a text color it belongs on a dark background: on white it only reaches 2.35:1, under the 4.5:1 that body text needs, while on black it reaches 8.93:1. AA asks 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text; AAA asks 7:1.
Named colors close to Dark Gray
Open darkgray in the full tools
- Open in Color Converter — convert it to any other notation.
- Open in Palette Generator — export its scale as --darkgray-50 … --darkgray-950 tokens.
- Open in Color Harmonies — turn the wheel and compare OKLCH with HSL.
- Open in Contrast Checker — test it against any background, with the closest passing shade.
- Open in Color System Generator — derive a light and dark token set from it.
Or browse every named color from the color converter.