Named colors consists of standard colors, the transparent and currentcolor keywords.

Standard colors

Basic colors have standard, easy-to-remember names:

In addition to these 16 colors, about 150 other colors have a keyword associated to them:

Initially, in CSS Level 1, only 16 basic colors were defined, with orange added in CSS Level 2. Web designers found this list too short, and browser vendors added numerous names for colors based on the X11 color names. In SVG 1.0, then in CSS Colors Level 3, these names got standardized, formally defined, and made uniform (some had different spellings that are now aliases). They are called extended color keywords, X11 colors, or SVG colors.

In CSS Colors Level 4, an additional color, rebeccapurple was added to honor web pioneer Eric Meyer.

The transparent keyword represents a fully transparent color. This makes the background behind the colored item completely visible. Technically, transparent is a shortcut for rgba(0,0,0,0).

To prevent unexpected behavior, such as in a <gradient>, the current CSS spec states that transparent should be calculated in the alpha-premultiplied color space. However, be aware that older browsers may treat it as black with an alpha value of 0.

The transparent keyword wasn't a true color in CSS Level 2 (Revision 1). It was a special keyword that could be used instead of a regular <color> value on two CSS properties: background and border. It was essentially added to allow developers to override an inherited solid color. With the advent of alpha channels in CSS Colors Level 3, transparent was redefined as a true color. It can now be used wherever a <color> value can be used.

All names specify a color in the sRGB color space. Although the names more or less describe their respective colors, they are essentially artificial, without a strict rationale behind the terms used.

The color keywords all represent plain, solid colors without transparency.

Several keywords are aliases for each other:

• aqua / cyan
• fuchsia / magenta
• darkgray / darkgrey
• darkslategray / darkslategrey
• dimgray / dimgrey
• lightgray / lightgrey
• lightslategray / lightslategrey
• gray / grey
• slategray / slategrey

Though many keywords have been adapted from X11, their RGB values may differ from the corresponding color on X11 systems since manufacturers sometimes tailor X11 colors to their specific hardware.

HTML

<div id="container">
  <div id="one"></div>
  <div id="two"></div>
  <div id="three"></div>
</div>

CSS

#container {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-around;
  background-color: darkslateblue;
  padding: 20px;
}

#container > div {
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin: 3px;
  border: 2px solid black;
}

#one {
  background-color: red;
}

#two {
  background-color: lavender;
}

#three {
  background-color: transparent;
}

Result

• <color>: the data type of whose definition <named-color> is a constituent part.