Slate gray
grey color with a slight azure tinge
Slate gray is a moderate shade of gray with a slight azure tinge, which represents the average color of slate, a metamorphic rock often used in stonemasonry. As a tertiary color, slate is an equal mix of purple and green pigments.
Slaty, referring to this color, is often used to describe birds.
The first recorded use of slate gray as a color name in English was in 1705.
Variations
Light slate gray
Displayed at right is the web color light slate gray.
Dark slate gray
Displayed at right is the web color dark slate gray.
In human culture
Computers
The exterior shells of supercomputers are often colored various shades of slate gray.
The iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini comes in a dark slate gray colored aluminum body contrasted with black.
Western Electric used the term SLATE for the color instead of gray in their 25-pair (and multiples) cable for pairs 5-10-15-20-25.
Transportation
The S New York City Subway service bullet, used in three out of the system's 25 services, is colored slate gray.
“Slate gray” enters the record as grey color with a slight azure tinge. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Slate, gray and grey can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Slate gray” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Slate, gray and grey provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1411452. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1705.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Slate gray”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Slate gray primary sources, Slate gray archive and Slate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Slate gray”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Slate gray” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.