Grey or gray is an intermediate color between black and white, a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally a color "without color." It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash and of lead. Grey comes from the Middle English grai or grei, from the Anglo-Saxon graeg, and is related to the German grau.[

The first recorded use of grey as a color name in the English language was in AD 700. Grey is the British, Canadian, Australian, Irish, New Zealand and South African spelling, although gray remained in common usage in the UK until the second half of the 20th century. Gray is the preferred American spelling since approximately 1825, although grey is an accepted variant.

Grey became a highly fashionable color in the 18th century, both for women's dresses and for men's waistcoats and coats. It looked particularly luminous coloring the silk and satin fabrics worn by the nobility and wealthy.

The clothing of women working in the factories and workshops of Paris in the 19th century was usually grey.