What color is Pewter? Meaning, Symbolism & Psychology of Pewter (2025)

Pewter is a light grey color with soft blue undertones. It is sitting somewhere between silver and deep grey on the color wheel. The color derives from pewter, a metal wich is primarily comprised of tin. Unlike silver, which is characterized by its shininess, pewter has a silvery-grey appearance. To create pewter shade, you would need to mix a broad selection of colors. The first step would be to create medium grey, which can be done by mixing black and white. Afterwards, you would need to add small amounts of raw umber and ultramarine blue to the previously created medium grey paint. By adding a dollop of metallic silver to the mix, you would achieve pewter’s slight sheen. Colors that are similar to pewter are gray and gunmetal grey. The hex code for color pewter is #E9EAEC.

The history of color pewter

In the Middle Ages, color grey was mostly worn by peasants and the poor, while used as a symbol of humility and poverty by Cistercian monks. During the Renaissance and the Baroque, grey was used for a painting technique called grisaille, in which the whole painting is done by a monochromatic palette in greys. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, grey became very fashionable. Women were wearing grey dresses, and men’s favorite clothing pieces were grey coats. Later on, business suits appeared in grey color, and light grey suits were worn during the summer. Apart from that, color grey was used for uniforms that were made for women working in factories, as well as for military uniforms, only to become a symbol of industrialization and war in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The use of pewter, a malleable metal alloy, dates back to around 3000 BC, but it became popular in the 14th century. It was widely used by Egyptians, Romans, and, throughout the Middle Ages, by Europeans. During that period, pewter work often emulated designs in silver. Color pewter became fashionable in 2010, peaking around 2017.

The color psychology of color pewter

In color psychology, grey stands for neutrality. It provides a balancing effect when combined with brighter shades. It is a conventional, practical color, which is linked with maturity and responsibility.

Grey color can carry some negative connotations, and is often linked to depression and loss. Being a dark and muted color, grey also belongs to a group of ’’sad’’ colors. It is somewhat viewed as a dull, boring shade, due to its absence of color. Too much of the color grey can also evoke feelings of sadness and loneliness. On the other hand, grey can appear very professional, modern looking, sophisticated.

According to color psychology, people who favor color grey are considered practical, calm, reliable. They are not attention seekers, on the contrary. They are neutral about life, and are attracted to color grey because it contains their energy. People who choose color grey are introverted and they don’t like to stand out from the crowd. They are mostly looking to blend in. Socializing is difficult for them, which is why they don’t have as many friends. In addition, they sometimes appear like they lack enthusiasm, and compassion towards others. In many cases they are unbiased, rational, emotionally detached, with a tendency to avoid risks.

Being a light shade of grey, color pewter retains all characteristics of color grey. Pewter is also associated with maturity and commitment, and it is often described as a neutral, imperceptible color. People who favor pewter are high on intellect, bitterness, introversion.

The use of color pewter

Even though cooler colors pair the best with pewter, pewter goes well with almost every color on the color wheel due to its neutral shade. Some of them include burgundy, turquoise, creamy white, gold, other shades of color grey. Because of its neutrality, pewter is a great accent for any other color in the color wheel.

When it comes to different outfits, pewter can accentuate the best body features when worn in the right way. A tight pewter dress would help you emphasize your body curves, but you would

need to use darker colors to camouflage some body parts that you don’t like. It is recommended to pair pewter with darker, or even colorful tones, especially when choosing shoes and accessories. You can combine pewter with different colors until you find the best look.

Because of its neutral tone, pewter can be a great base for interior design. Pewter can help you with hiding some flaws at your house, and give it a more renovated and fresh look. It can also make your rooms brighter, or even visually increase the size of a small-sized bedrooms. It would be better if you used pewter for your walls, and complement them with some medium dark furniture, cushions, curtains, or carpets.

When used in web design, pewter would serve the best as a background color.

Information about color Pewter / #E9EAEC

In a RGB color space (made from three colored lights for red, green, and blue), hex #E9EAEC is made of 91.4% red, 91.8% green and 92.5% blue. In a CMYK color space (also known as process color, or four color, and used in color printing), hex #E9EAEC is made of 1% cyan, 1% magenta, 0% yellow and 7% black. Pewter has a hue angle of 220 degrees, a saturation of 7.3% and a lightness of 92%.

Color conversion

The hexadecimal color #E9EAEC has RGB values of R: 91.4, G: 91.8, B: 92.5 and CMYK values of C: 0.01, M: 0.01, Y: 0, K:0.07.