Shades of

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

are

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

s that differ only slightly from pure white. Variations of white include what are commonly termed off-white colors, which may be considered part of a neutral color scheme or yellow that looks like brown. In color theory, a '' shade'' is a pure color mixed with black (or having a lower lightness). Strictly speaking, a "shade of white" would be a neutral

grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

. This article is also about off-white colors that vary from pure white in

hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...

, and in chroma (also called saturation, or intensity). Colors often considered "shades of white" include

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, eggshell,

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

Navajo white Navajo White is an orangish white color, or pastel yellow orange, and derives its name from its similarity to the background color of the Navajo Nation flag. The name "Navajo White" is usually only used when referring to paint. Despite its name ...

, and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

. Even the lighting of a room, however, can cause a pure white to be perceived as off-white. Off-white colors were pervasively paired with

beige Beige is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither bleached nor ...

s in the 1930s, and especially popular again from roughly 1955 to 1975. In terms of paint, off-white paints are now becoming more popular, with Benjamin Moore having 152 shades of off-whites,

Behr Behr is a given name and surname that derives from the German ''Bär'' (''bear''). Older forms of the name, ''Bela'' and ''Belo'' (related to the old High German ''Belo''), occur in the Memorbuch. The diminutive forms ''Baeril'' ''(Berel)'' and ' ...

having 167, and PPG has 315. Whiteness measures the degree to which a surface is white in

colorimetry Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception". It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color ...

Web colors

Below is a chart showing the computer

web color Web colors are colors used in displaying web pages on the World Wide Web, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Colors may be specified as an RGB triplet or in hexadecimal format (a ''hex triplet'') or according to their c ...

shades of white. An ''achromatic white'' is a white color in which the red, green, and blue codes are exactly equal. The web colors ''white'' and ''white smoke'' are achromatic colors. A ''chromatic shade of white'' is a white color in which the red, green, and blue codes are not exactly equal, but are close to each other, which is what makes it a shade of white.

White

''White'' is a color, the

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

of which is evoked by

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in equal amounts and with high

brightness Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating or reflecting light. In other words, brightness is the perception elicited by the luminance of a visual target. The perception is not linear to luminan ...

compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of

and grayness. White is the lightest possible color.

Ghost white

The

''ghost white'' is a tint of white associated with what the 'creator' of the color imagined the hue of a ghost could be. There is no evidence that this color name was in use before the

X11 The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...

color names were formulated in 1987.

White smoke

The web color ''white smoke'' is displayed on the left. There is no evidence that this color name was in use before the X11 color names were formulated in 1987. The color is also known as Cultured Pearl, one of

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax a ...

colors issued by

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

in its 16-pack of Pearl Brite Crayons.

White solid

The web color ''white solid'' is displayed on the left. There is no evidence that this color name was in use before the X11 color names were formulated in 1987. Sometimes also known as Ghost White, the color has marked blue hues, although is otherwise very close to being completely white in the RGB color system.

Baby powder

The

crayon color ''baby powder'' was introduced in 1994 as part of its specialty Magic Scent crayon collection.

Snow

The web color ''snow'' is displayed at left. The first recorded use of ''snow'' as a color name in English was in 1000. Snow Scene at Shipka Pass 1

The color ''snow'' was included as one of the X11 colors when they were formulated in 1987.

Ivory

''Ivory'' is an off-white color that resembles

, the material out of which the

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, t ...

and tusks of animals (such as the elephant and the walrus) are made. It has a very slight tint of yellow. The first recorded use of ''ivory'' as a color name in English was in 1385. Bimbisar welcoming Buddha Roundel 30 buddha ivory tusk

Bimbisar welcoming Buddha Roundel 30 buddha ivory tusk

The color ''ivory'' was included as one of the X11 color names, X11 colors when they were formulated in 1987.

Floral white

The web color ''floral white'' is displayed at left. There is no evidence that this color name was in use before the X11 color names were formulated in 1987.

Seashell

''Seashell'' is an off-white color that resembles some of the very pale pinkish tones that are common in many seashells. The first recorded use of ''seashell'' as a color name in English was in 1926. Seashell unknown 2

In 1987, ''seashell'' was included as one of the X11 colors.

Bone white

''Bone white'' is a yellowish-gray shade of white which represents the color of natural, unbleached bones.

Cornsilk

''Cornsilk'' is a color that is a representation of the color of cornsilk. The first recorded use of ''cornsilk'' as a color name in English was in 1927. Cornsilk 7091

In 1987, ''cornsilk'' was included as one of the X11 colors.

Old lace

''Old lace'' is a web color that is a very pale yellowish orange (colour), orange that resembles the color of an old lace tablecloth. It is one of the original X11 colors. Old lace is used as a color of a certain kind of Caucasian race, Caucasian skin type in art.

Cream

''Cream'' is a color that is a representation of the color of the cream produced from the milk of cattle. The first recorded use of ''cream'' as a color name in English was in 1590. Strawberry ice cream dessert

In 1987, ''cream'' was included as one of the X11 colors.

Beige

The color ''beige'' is displayed at left. The first recorded use of ''beige'' as a color name in English was in 1887. The term originates from ''beige cloth'', a cotton Textile, fabric left undyed in its natural color. Beige cat

Items that are of ''beige'' color in real world applications are typically closer to brown than they are to white.

Parchment

Displayed at left is the color parchment. Parchment from goatskin

In 2001, this was made into one of the colors on the Xona.com color list.

Antique white

''Antique white'' is a web color. The color name ''antique white'' began to be used in 1987 when the X11 colors were first formulated.

Champagne

The color ''champagne'' is displayed at left. The color's name is derived from the typical color of the beverage champagne.

The first recorded use of ''champagne'' as a color name in English was in 1915.

Eggshell

The color ''eggshell'' is displayed at left. The color ''eggshell'' is a representation of the average color of chicken eggs.

Dutch white

Displayed at left is the color ''Dutch white''. ''Dutch white'' is one of the colors on the Resene Color List, a color list popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color ''Dutch white'' was formulated in 2000.

Bone

The color ''bone'' is displayed at left. This color is a representation of the color of bones. The first recorded use of ''bone'' as a color name in English was in the first decade of the 19th century (exact year uncertain). Crocuta crocuta(Cranial bone) new

Vanilla

The color ''vanilla'' is a rich tint of off-white as well as a medium pale tint of yellow. Vanilla1web

The first recorded use of ''vanilla'' as a color name in English was in 1925.

Flax

The color ''flax'' is displayed at left. Flax (Linum usitassimum)

The first recorded use of ''flax'' as a color name in English was in 1915. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 195; Color Sample of Flax: Page 47 Plate 12 Color Sample B2

Navajo white

''Navajo white'' is a whitish orange color, and derives its name from its similarity to the background color of the Navajo Nation ethnic flag. Navajo flag

In 1987, ''Navajo white'' was included as one of the X11 colors.

Alabaster

Displayed at right is the color alabaster. It represents the whitish color of the mineral alabaster.

Alabaster has been used as a color in English since at least 1594 (in Shakespeare's ''The Rape of Lucrece''), but the origin of the RGB coordinates is not known.

References

{{Color shades Shades of white,