What color do purple and grey make?
Purple and Grey make slate grey.
Purple and Grey make slate grey, #7b437b. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts purple and grey · #7b437b
Change the ratio
Very little of a mix is ever half and half. Shifting the balance moves the result along the range between the two colours.
3 parts purple, 1 part grey · #812981
Equal parts · #7b437b
1 part purple, 3 parts grey · #6d4f6d
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #b299b2
With black added - a shade · #401a40
Why it works
Pigment mixes subtractively: purple paint absorbs the wavelengths it is not reflecting, grey absorbs its own set, and slate grey is what neither of them absorbed. This is why paint behaves differently from a screen, where light adds together instead.
Frequently asked questions
What color do purple and grey make?
Purple and Grey make slate grey, #7b437b. Mixed in equal parts that is the result you get with paint, ink or any other pigment.
How do I make the result lighter or darker?
Add white for a tint - here that gives lavender. Add black for a shade, which gives indigo. Add white a little at a time, because it takes far less than people expect to shift a mix.
What happens if I use more purple than grey?
Three parts purple to one part grey gives purple. Reversing it to one part purple and three parts grey gives slate grey instead.
Does this work the same way on a screen?
No. Screens mix light additively, so red and green light make yellow there. These results are subtractive - paint, ink, dye and pigment - which is what people mean when they ask what two colours make.