Reference

The color encyclopedia

Every color has a page: all 16,777,216 of them, resolvable by hex. 31,912 carry real names. Browse by family, shade, palette, meaning, or the teams and flags that wear them.

16,777,216: colors served, one page each
31,912: real names, matched by CIEDE2000

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Delta E (ΔE)
A measure of how different two colors look. Below 1 the difference is invisible to almost everyone; below 2.3 most people can't tell them apart; above 10 they are clearly different colors. We use CIEDE2000, the modern standard.Full glossary entry →
12: hue families to browse

Know the code?

Families

Browse by hue family

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Hue
The attribute we usually mean by the word color: where it sits on the wheel, from red through yellow, green, blue, and back. Hue is what changes when you rotate a color wheel and stays the same when you only lighten or dull a color.Full glossary entry →

Most searched

Popular colors

The names people search most, as labeled specimens. Every card opens that color's full page: codes, shades, palettes, and contrast.

The full registry

Every one of the 31,912 names

The complete registry, browsable. Type to filter; every entry opens a full breakdown with codes, palettes, and contrast.

Variations

Shades of everything

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Shade
A color mixed with black, which lowers its lightness. Maroon is a shade of red. Shades feel deeper and more grounded.Full glossary entry →

Combinations

Palettes and gradients built from these colors

All palettes

Pairings

What goes with each color

All 100 guides

Meaning

What each color means

All meanings

In the wild

The colors teams, brands, and nations wear

128 Team colors 6 leagues, every roster hex-exact. 100 Brand colors The palettes behind the logos you know. 261 Flag colors Every nation's colors with their stories.

Keep going

Play with color, then work with it

Color of the day A new named color every midnight UTC. Colordle Guess the color of the day in six tries. Name that color How well do you really know your hues?

Photo color analyzer Drop in a photo, pick any pixel, get its name and every code. Analyze Palette generator Lock what you love, spacebar the rest. OKLCH-balanced. Generate

FAQ

Common questions

How can every color have a page?

Any of the 16,777,216 sRGB colors resolves through the hex lookup to a full breakdown: its nearest names, every code format, tints, shades, palettes, and contrast data. The 31,912 named colors come from the community-maintained color-name-list, matched by CIEDE2000 rather than RGB distance.

Where do the color names come from?

From the open color-name-list project: 31,912 human-given names, from Crimson to 100 Mph. We match your color to the perceptually nearest name and always show the distance, so you know an exact hit from a close neighbor.

What is a hue family?

The 12 families (red through pink) partition the hue wheel so browsing stays manageable. A color's family comes from its hue angle, with lightness and chroma deciding edge cases like brown and gray.

What makes this an encyclopedia and not a list?

Every entry is computed: codes in eight formats, tints and shades on even perceptual steps, six harmony types, WCAG contrast against black and white, nearest paint and brand standards, and honest notes on gamut and undertone.

Can I browse every named color?

Yes. The name directory on this page loads all 31,912 names with a live filter. Every entry opens a full breakdown, and the most-searched names have curated encyclopedia pages.

How the matching works, precisely: the methodology page documents the naming, palette, and contrast math, including the limits.