Charcoal Color
Charcoal is a gray color with hex code #343837. This page covers its meaning, all color values, harmonies, colors that go with charcoal, shades, tints, similar colors, CSS examples, FAQs, and WCAG contrast ratios.
Charcoal Color Values
What Does Charcoal Mean?
Charcoal belongs to the gray family of colors. Gray settles arguments between colors. Practical, quiet, and hard to date-stamp, it lets brighter hues carry the personality while providing structure. Warm grays cozy a room up; cool grays keep it businesslike. Being on the dark side, Charcoal adds weight and depth. It suits text, shadows, and grounding elements more than wide-open backgrounds.
In the ISCC-NBS color naming system, Charcoal is classified as a olive (nearest centroid: dark grayish olive green, #31362B).
Color Harmonies
Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Colors That Go With Charcoal
Charcoal and #383334 are complements, parked opposite each other on the wheel. Together they hit maximum contrast, so a rough 70/30 split keeps the pairing from shouting.
Analogous neighbors — #333834 and #333738, which sit beside charcoal on the wheel. Pairings like this feel calm and settled, which suits backgrounds and gradients.
For an energetic three-color palette, pair charcoal with triadic partners #373338 and #383733. All three sit evenly spaced around the wheel, so the scheme stays lively without clashing.
Build and test these combinations in our Color Wheel Tool or check text readability with the Contrast Checker.
Tints and Shades
Tints (lighter)
Shades (darker)
Similar Colors
- Dark Grey —
#363737(Delta E 2) - Tuatara —
#363534(Delta E 2) - Mine Shaft —
#323232(Delta E 3) - Dune —
#383533(Delta E 3) - Charcoal Grey —
#3C4142(Delta E 4)
CSS Examples
.text { color: #343837; }
.background { background-color: #343837; }
.border { border: 2px solid #343837; }
.shadow { box-shadow: 0 4px 6px #34383740; }WCAG Contrast
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hex code for charcoal?
Charcoal has the hex code #343837. In RGB notation it is rgb(52, 56, 55), in HSL it is hsl(165, 4%, 21%), and its OKLCH value is 0.336, 0.006, 179.4.
What does the color charcoal mean?
Gray-family colors like charcoal carry distinct psychological associations. Charcoal belongs to the gray family of colors. Gray settles arguments between colors. Practical, quiet, and hard to date-stamp, it lets brighter hues carry the personality while providing structure. Warm grays cozy a room up; cool grays keep it businesslike. Being on the dark side, Charcoal adds weight and depth. It suits text, shadows, and grounding elements more than wide-open backgrounds.
What colors go with charcoal?
Charcoal has three easy routes: its complement #383334 for punch, its neighbors #333834 and #333738 for something calmer, or triadic partners #373338 and #383733 when you want energy.
Is charcoal a standard web color?
No — Charcoal is not a CSS keyword. Use its hex value #343837 or any RGB/HSL equivalent in your stylesheets.
How do I make charcoal lighter or darker?
To lighten charcoal, add white to create tints; to darken it, add black to create shades. The tints and shades table above shows five computed steps of each, from #DDDFDF (lightest tint) to #0A0B0A (darkest shade).
About Charcoal
Charcoal is classified as a Olive in the ISCC-NBS color naming system, within the Gray hue family. It has The color is recognized by XKCD, meodai.
Use our Color Converter to convert #343837 to any other color format, or explore the Color Wheel to find harmonious color combinations.