Everyday Topics
Colors Tier List Maker
Rank colors from red and blue to teal, magenta and beige.
Last reviewed
Unranked items
Drag items into a tier — or tap an item, then tap a tier.
Your list saves automatically in this browser. You can also drop or paste images onto the board. With a keyboard, focus an item and use the arrow keys to move it, or Delete to remove it.
Meet every color (24)
These 24 colors load into the maker above. Each write-up covers what the color is and what to weigh when you rank it. Facts were last checked on .
-
Red
The color at the long-wavelength end of the visible spectrum, next to orange and opposite violet, at roughly 625 to 750 nanometers. It is a primary color in the RGB model and the complement of cyan.
-
Orange
The color between yellow and red on the spectrum, seen at a dominant wavelength of roughly 585 to 620 nanometres. It is named after the fruit, and is a secondary color of pigments.
-
Yellow
A color between green and orange on the spectrum, at a dominant wavelength of roughly 575 to 585 nanometers. In the RGB model it is a secondary color made from red and green light.
-
Green
The color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum, at roughly 495 to 570 nanometers, with hundreds of shades. In painting and printing it is made by combining yellow and cyan.
-
Blue
One of the three primary colors in the RGB model and in traditional color theory, between violet and cyan on the spectrum. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea both appear blue.
-
Purple
A color similar in appearance to violet light. In traditional art it is a secondary color made by combining red and blue pigments, while in printing it is made with magenta and cyan.
-
Pink
A pale tint of red or rose, named after the pink flower and first used as a color name in the late 17th century. In the 21st century it is seen as a symbol of femininity, though that was not always so.
-
Black
The color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light, an achromatic color like white and grey. It is often used symbolically to represent darkness, and as the opposite of white.
-
White
The lightest color and an achromatic one, the color of snow, chalk and milk. White objects reflect and scatter nearly all visible wavelengths, and on screens white is a mix of red, blue and green light.
-
Gray
An intermediate color between black and white, neutral and achromatic, the color of storm clouds, ash and lead. Grey is the dominant spelling in European and Commonwealth English, and gray is more common in American English.
-
Brown
A darker, typically desaturated shade of orange that can be produced by combining red and yellow with another color. It is one of the most common colors in the natural world, from soil to wood.
-
Teal
A dark cyan color named after the Eurasian teal, a bird with a similarly colored stripe on its head. It is also one of the first 16 HTML and CSS web colors.
-
Turquoise
A cyan color based on the mineral of the same name, with the X11 color called turquoise being its standard digital version. It sits in the blue-green range.
-
Magenta
A purplish-pink color located midway between blue and red on the RGB and CMYK color wheels. It is one of the four subtractive inks in CMYK printing, along with cyan, yellow and black.
-
Maroon
A brownish red color that takes its name from the French word marron, meaning chestnut. Burgundy, claret, mulberry and crimson are interchangeable shades with overlapping RGB ranges.
-
Navy
A dark shade of blue, originally the color of uniforms worn by Royal Navy officers. In the late 18th century the Royal Navy adopted it for sailors partly because dark colors hide dirt and wear on long voyages.
-
Gold
A color tone resembling the chemical element gold. The web color gold is sometimes called golden to distinguish it from the metallic gold, and golden was first recorded as a color name in 1300.
-
Silver
A color tone, or metallic gray, resembling polished silver. Its metallic shine cannot be reproduced by a simple solid color because the effect depends on brightness changing with the surface angle.
-
Beige
Variously described as a pale sandy fawn, a grayish tan or a pale grayish yellow. The name comes from French, where it originally meant natural wool that has been neither bleached nor dyed.
-
Lavender
A light shade of purple or violet, named for the flower. It leans to the blue side, while lilac is the pale purple on the pink side, and it is used to describe many pale, grayish purples.
-
Lime
A shade of yellow-green named after the citrus fruit, found between the web colors chartreuse and yellow on the color wheel. "Lime green" was first recorded as a color name in 1890.
-
Cyan
The color between blue and green on the visible spectrum, at a predominant wavelength of roughly 490 to 520 nanometers. In CMYK printing it is one of the primary colors, along with magenta and yellow.
-
Coral
The various orange, red and pink tones of the precious corals the color is named after. The web color coral is a shade of orange, and its first recorded use as a color name in English was in 1513.
-
Olive
Also called olive green, a dark shade of yellowish green like that of unripe or green olives. As a color word in English it appears in late Middle English.
Colors tier list questions
Where do the color descriptions come from?
They come from each color's Wikipedia article, which cites color-science sources for wavelengths, color-model roles and first recorded uses. Colors are subjective, so the write-ups describe rather than judge.
Why are some similar colors listed separately?
Teal, turquoise and cyan, or maroon and magenta, look related but are distinct named colors. Fans of color lists often rank them separately because each has its own mood and history.
How should I rank colors?
Common criteria include personal preference, mood, how often you wear or use the color, and how well it fits a theme. Many people rank colors by use, such as clothes, rooms or cars.
Sources
Facts on this page were checked against these references on .