RAL and NCS values are nearest equivalents, not official designations.
In Western cultures, white signifies purity and innocence, often seen in weddings and christenings. However, in some Eastern traditions, it represents mourning and loss, contrasting its celebratory connotations in other regions.
The term 'white' comes from the Old English 'hwita,' which is linked to the Proto-Germanic 'hwitaz.' Used in ancient times for ceremonial purposes, white pigments were derived from materials like chalk or lead, with lead white being a common artist's pigment in the Renaissance period.
Ranked by CIE76 ΔE — the perceptual distance from White. Lower ΔE means a closer match (below ~2 is barely distinguishable).
All 20 Whites →Nine steps of White by lightness — from #858585 (darkest) to #FFFFFF (lightest). Click any to copy.
Curated 5-color combinations featuring White.
A 50–900 tonal scale with White anchored at 500 — ready to drop into a design system. Click any step to copy.
Works well as text on dark backgrounds; fails on light.
Thresholds: AA needs 4.5:1 (normal text) / 3:1 (large); AAA needs 7:1 / 4.5:1. Large = 18pt+ or 14pt+ bold.
Copy-ready values for CSS, screen and print, plus the extra conversions designers reach for.
color: white; color-mix(in srgb, white 70%, white) 0°, 0%, 100% 0, 0, 0, 0 16777215 #FFFFFF How White appears to viewers with the three main types of color blindness (~1 in 12 men, 1 in 200 women). Simulated approximations.