Color Terms

 Understanding color terminology will make navigating the world of color much easier. So here a list of color terms. You may already know a few of them.

Hue: This is just another name for color. They are interchangeable

Primary colors: These are the colors red, yellow, and blue. They are called primaries you cannot create them by mixing other colors.

Secondary colors: These are the primary colors mixed together. They are orange, green, and violet. Red and yellow make orange. Yellow and blue make green. Blue and red make violet.

Tertiary colors: These are also called intermediate colors. They are formed by mixing one primary with one secondary together. That why it is also called intermediate. The primary and secondary are two completely different colors coming together to form a new color. They are red-orange, red-violet, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, and blue violet.

Warm colors: These are also called agressive colors because they are very bright and will easily stand out and grab anyone's attention. They are the reds, oranges and yellows. This also includes red violet.

Cool colors: These are also called receding colors because they are calmer are not attention grabers like the warm colors. They are more likely to stay in the background. They are your greens, blues, violets. This also includes yellow green.

Tint: This is a hue or color with white added to it.

Shade: This is a hue or color with black added to it.

Intensity: How bright or dull a color is. This can also be called Chroma, Chromaticity, or Saturation.

Value: The lightness or darkness of a color. This can also be called shade, tint, luminance, or luminosity.

Neutral Gray: This is a blend of black and white.

Neutrals: These are black, white, and grey. They have no intensity or chroma. They are also called achromatics, in otherwords without color. Some people may say achromatic colors but there are not colors or hues.

Complementary Colors: These are colors that lie opposite each other on the color wheel. Red complements green, yellow complements violet, and blue complements orange and so forth.

Analogous Colors: These are colors that lie nex to each other on the color wheel. They may be three, four, or five of them. For example, the colors red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, and yellow are analogous