Blue-gray explained

Livid (Blue-gray)
Hex:	6699CC
Source:	Maerz and Paul^[1] (Crayola)
Isccname:	Light blue

Livid is a medium bluish-gray color. This color name comes from the Latin color term lividus meaning "'a dull leaden-blue color', and also used to describe the color of contused flesh, leading to the English expression 'black and blue'".^[1] The first recorded use of livid as a color name in English was in 1622.^[2]

There is a range of colors called livid colors that combine the colors blue and gray. Some of these colors are shown below.

Livid (blue-gray) is the opposite concept from brown. Brown colors are mainly dark orange and dark red colors—warm colors on the warm color side of the color wheel, while blue-gray (livid) colors are mainly dark blue and dark azure colors—colors on the opposite side of the color wheel—cool colors on the cool color side of the color wheel.

Alternate names are blue-gray (American English) or blue-grey (British English), which was a name introduced by Crayola for a crayon color used from 1958 to 1990. Thus, the normalized color coordinates for livid and blue-gray are identical.

Variations of blue-gray

The colors below are arranged according to value (brightness, the V code in HSV), lightest at the top and darkest towards the bottom.

Iceberg

Iceberg
Hex:	71A6D2
Source:	Maerz and Paul^[3]
Isccname:	Light blue

The color iceberg is displayed at right.

The first recorded use of iceberg as a color name in English was in 1921.^[4]

Slate blue

Slate blue
Hex:	6A5ACD
Source:	X11^[5]
Isccname:	Vivid purplish blue

Displayed at right is the web color slate blue.

The first recorded use of slate blue as a color name in English was in 1796.^[6]

Blue bell

Blue bell
Hex:	A2A2D0
Isccname:	Light purplish blue

Blue bell is a shade of blue-gray. It is also a Crayola color. It represents the bluebell flower.

The first recorded use of bluebell as a color name in English was in 1920.^[7]

Glaucous

See main article: Glaucous.

Glaucous
Hex:	6082B6
Source:	ISCC-NBS
Isccname:	Moderate blue

Glaucous is a shade of blue-gray found on the surfaces of some plants and animals.

The first recorded use of glaucous as a color name in English was in the year 1671.^[8]

Steel blue

See main article: Steel blue.

Steel blue
Hex:	4682B4
Isccname:	Moderate blue

Steel blue is a color that resembles blue steel.

The first recorded use of steel blue as a color name in English was in 1817.^[9]

Cadet grey

See main article: Cadet grey.

Cadet grey
Hex:	91A3B0
Source:	ISCC-NBS
Isccname:	Grayish blue

Cadet grey, shown at right, and cadet blue, are shades of color used in military uniforms.

The first recorded use of cadet grey as a color name in English was in 1912.^[10] Before 1912, the word cadet grey was used as a name for a type of military issue uniform.

Cool gray

Gray-blue
Hex:	8C92AC
Source:	ISCC-NBS
Isccname:	Pale blue

Cool gray is a medium light color gray mixed with the color blue.

Another name for this color is gray-blue.

This color is a dull shade of blue-gray.

This color is identical with color sample #203 (identified as "gray blue") at the following website: https://web.archive.org/web/20170810183646/http://tx4.us/nbs/nbs-g.htm—The ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Colo(u)r Names (1955), a website for stamp collectors to evaluate the colors of their stamps.

Air Force blue

See main article: Air Force blue.

Air Force Blue
Spelling:	color
Hex:	5D8AA8
Source:	Vexillological:^[11]
Isccname:	Moderate greenish blue

Air force blue is a grayish shade of blue or azure used by the RAF.

There are other tones of air force blue, such as the darker one used by the United States Air Force.

Shadow blue

Shadow blue
Hex:	778BA5
Source:	Crayola
Isccname:	Grayish blue

The color shadow blue is displayed at right. Shadow blue is a color formulated by Crayola in 1990 as one of the colors in its Silver Swirls specialty box of metallic colors.

Although this is supposed to be a metallic color, there is no mechanism for displaying metallic colors on a computer.

Dark blue-gray

Dark blue-gray
Hex:	666699
Spelling:	color
Source:	WSC
Isccname:	Moderate purplish blue

The color dark blue-gray is displayed at right.

Roman silver

Roman silver
Hex:	838996
Source:	Resene
Isccname:	Bluish gray

At right is displayed the color Roman silver.

Roman silver is one of the colors on the Resene Color List, a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand.

This color is supposed to be a metallic color; however, there is no mechanism for displaying metallic colors on a flat computer screen.

Rhythm

Rhythm
Hex:	777696
Source:	Resene
Isccname:	Grayish purplish blue

Displayed at right is the color rhythm.

Rhythm is one of the colors on the Resene Color List, a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color "rhythm" was formulated in 2004.

Payne's gray

See main article: Payne's grey.

Payne's gray
Hex:	536878
Source:	Ridgway:^[12]
Isccname:	Grayish blue

Payne's gray is a dark blue-gray color used in painting.

The first recorded use of Payne’s grey as a color name in English was in 1835.^[13]

Blue-gray in nature

Insects

Calliphora livida

Arachnids

Haplopelma lividum

Birds

Mammals

Blue-gray mouse

Blue-gray in culture

Animal husbandry

Blue Grey is a type of beef cattle popular in Scotland and the north of England.

Medicine/sociology

Upper-class families who used silver eating utensils every day gradually ingested small pieces of silver into their bodies and eventually developed a mild form of a condition called argyria, in which the skin takes on a blue-gray color, thus becoming known as bluebloods.^[14]

Sports

The Blue–Gray Football Classic was an annual American college football all-star game held in Alabama usually on Christmas Day. It was begun in 1939 and held annually through 2001 at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. It pitted players from the former Confederacy against players from the northern and western states of the United States.

Transportation planning

In the Muni Metro, San Francisco's light rail system, the K Ingleside line, which goes to the Ingleside neighborhood, is represented by the color blue-gray.

Notes and References

The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called livid in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul ADictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; Discussion of the color Livid Page 165
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 198
The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called iceberg in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color iceberg is displayed on page 95, Plate 36, Color Sample H4.
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196; Color Sample of Iceberg: Page 95 Plate 36 Color Sample H4
Web site: CSS Color Module Level 3. 12 February 2017.
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 204; Color Sample of Slate Blue: Page 115 Plate 46 Color Sample A7
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190; Color Sample of Bluebell: Page 97 Plate 37 Color Sample J10
Encyclopedia: Glaucous, a. . . 2010 .
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 205
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 191; Color Sample of Cadet Grey: Page 95 Plate 36 Color Sample C4
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/F220517C_C37F_4A1E_C1A831E90982A73E.pdf History of the RAF, Chapter 7 – Cultural & Organizational Heritage
Of the various tones of Payne’s Grey shown on the indicated web page of the Ridgway color list, the color displayed in the color box above matches most closely the color called Payne’s Gray in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color Payne’s Gray is displayed on page 117, Plate 47, Color Sample A9.
Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201; Color Sample of Payne’s Gray: Page 117 Plate 47 Color Sample A9
Alexander, Wesley J. History of the Medical Use of Silver