Grey

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

For other uses of "gray", see Gray (disambiguation).

Grey or Gray (see spelling differences) is the color of dull things that would otherwise be seen as white. It is a color seen commonly in nature. In pigment, or subtractive color (CMYK), it is created by adding black. In light, or additive color (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 color 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 color, with colder light adding a yellow-orange hue and warmer light adding a blue hue.

Two colors are called complementary colors if grey is produced when two colors are combined. Grey is its own complement. Consequently, grey remains grey when its color spectrum is inverted, and therefore has no opposite, or alternately is its own opposite. On a more abstract level, it could be argued that colors which produce grey when mixed, such as black and white, are the opposite of grey while seperated. However, this could not be considered the literal opposite of grey.

[edit] Usage, symbolism and colloquial expressions

• Grey symbolises mediocrity, the background noise.
  • 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 color 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 woodland 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 colors 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 color is associated with things intellectual.
• In religion, grey is the color 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 color 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 color of Wehrmacht uniforms.
• Tiny grey aliens, with large, tear-shaped black eyes are referred to as "little greys" in popular UFO conspiracy theories and in science-fiction.
• The color grey represents pessimism whereas its opposite, optimism, is represented by the color rose.

[edit] In fiction

• In J. R. R. Tolkien's works, Gandalf is often known as Gandalf the Grey.
• 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 fictional Babylon 5 universe, the nine leaders of the Minbari are called the Grey Council.
• In The Grey King, by Susan Cooper, the antagonist, Brenin Llwyd, is eponymous to the title.

[edit] Color coordinates

RGB 

All the grey values in greyscale are solutions of the inequality:

CMYK 

All the grey values in greyscale are solutions of the inequality:

when .

In theory it is also possible to achieve a greyscale with perfect inks when:

and

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:

when .

[edit] Web colors

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 color list). Note that the three "slategray" colors are not themselves on the greyscale, but are slightly saturated towards cyan (green + blue).

[edit] See also

• List of colors
• Payne's grey
• Davy's grey
• Grisaille