Gray family
Taupe color
A light, muted yellow leaning orange. The reference taupe is #B9A281, as defined by the xkcd Color Survey.
| HEX | #B9A281 | |
|---|---|---|
| RGB | rgb(185, 162, 129) | |
| HSL | hsl(35, 29%, 62%) | |
| HSV | hsv(35, 30%, 73%) | |
| OKLCH | oklch(72.4% 0.053 76.7) | |
| CMYK* | 0, 12, 30, 27 |
* CMYK is a simple conversion without a print profile; ask your printer for exact values.
What color is taupe?
Taupe, from the French word for mole, describes a brownish gray, and it is one of the most loosely used colour names. In the xkcd survey people called a light greige taupe; the traditional taupe of fabric and paint charts is a much darker gray-brown, close to the Dark Taupe and Taupe Brown below.
Taupe hex codes by source
Color names are not standardized, so the same name can point to different colors. Here is every definition of taupe in our three sources, with how close each one is to the reference.
| Name | HEX | Source | Compared with the reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taupe | #B9A281 | xkcd Color Survey | Reference shown on this page |
| Taupe | #B9A281 | Color Names (meodai) | Same color |
| Dark Taupe | #7F684E | xkcd Color Survey | Noticeably different · 23% similar |
| Dark Taupe | #483C3C | Color Names (meodai) | Noticeably different · 0% similar |
| Taupe Brown | #483C30 | Color Names (meodai) | Noticeably different · 0% similar |
Taupe vs Beige
#B9A281
#F5F5DC
Beige is lighter and yellower; taupe has more gray in it. In numbers: the two are 3% similar (OKLab distance 0.241). See Beige for its own codes.
Colors similar to taupe
The closest named colors to #B9A281 across all three sources, with their similarity in OKLab.
Tints and shades of taupe
The same hue from light to dark, generated in OKLab so the steps look even. Click a step to copy its HEX code.
Colors that go with taupe
Classic color-wheel combinations built on #B9A281, computed in OKLCH so the partners keep the same lightness and intensity. Each swatch shows the nearest common name.
Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Taupe with white and black text
WCAG asks for a contrast of at least 4.5:1 for body text (AA) and 3:1 for large text. On a taupe background, black text is the better choice.
Use taupe in CSS
.taupe {
color: #B9A281;
/* or */ color: rgb(185 162 129);
/* or */ color: hsl(35 29% 62%);
/* or */ color: oklch(72.4% 0.053 76.7);
}