Shades of white

White
White
Common connotations
	Purity, snow, brightness
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#FFFFFF
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(255, 255, 255)
HSV (h, s, v)	(0°, 0%, 100%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(100, 0, 0°)
Source	By definition
	B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte);

Shades of white are colors 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.

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 gray. This article is also about off-white colors that vary from pure white in hue, and in chroma (also called saturation, or intensity).

Colors often considered "shades of white" include cream, eggshell, ivory, Navajo white, and vanilla. Even the lighting of a room, however, can cause a pure white to be perceived as off-white.^[1]

Off-white colors were pervasively paired with beiges in the 1930s,^[2] and especially popular again from roughly 1955 to 1975.^[3] In terms of paint, off-white paints are now becoming more popular, with Benjamin Moore having 152 shades of off-whites, Behr having 167, and PPG has 315.^[4]

Whiteness measures the degree to which a surface is white in colorimetry.

^ Sickler, Dean (2010). The Keys to Color: A Decorator's Handbook. The Keys to Color. p. 11. ISBN 9781439270486. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
^ Ryan, Elaine (2007). Color Your Life: How to Design Your Home with Colors from Your Heart. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 12–15. ISBN 9780312368197. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
^ Mahnke, Frank H. (1996). Color, Environment, and Human Response. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 80. ISBN 9780471286677. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
^ Korn, Melissa (2021-08-12). "Simply White, Snowfall White, School House White: Proliferation of White Paint Shades Stupefies Renovators". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-13.

[1] Sickler, Dean (2010). The Keys to Color: A Decorator's Handbook. The Keys to Color. p. 11. ISBN 9781439270486. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

[2] Ryan, Elaine (2007). Color Your Life: How to Design Your Home with Colors from Your Heart. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 12–15. ISBN 9780312368197. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

[3] Mahnke, Frank H. (1996). Color, Environment, and Human Response. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 80. ISBN 9780471286677. Retrieved 17 December 2010.

[4] Korn, Melissa (2021-08-12). "Simply White, Snowfall White, School House White: Proliferation of White Paint Shades Stupefies Renovators". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-13.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]