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to reproduce this page of colour terms.

Colour Terminology  

A knowledge of color terms helps us to appreciate the different ways that color may be used in art and design.  

THE SPECTRUM

The spectrum is the colours of the rainbow arranged in their natural order:
Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - Violet
The mnemonic for this is ROY G BIV

HUES

The Color Wheel

A hue is one of the colors of the spectrum.
Hues have a circular order as illustrated in the color wheel above.


PRIMARY COLORS


Red, Yellow and Blue are the primary colors.
These are the three basic colors that are used to mix all hues.  

SECONDARY COLORS

Orange , Green and Purple are the secondary colors.
They are achieved by mixing two primary colors together.

TERTIARY COLORS


Tertiary colors are more subtle colors that are achieved
by mixing a primary and a secondary color.

OPPOSITE and COMPLEMENTARY COLORS


Opposite colors are diagonally opposite one another on the color wheel.
You can work out the opposite color to any primary color
by taking the other two primaries and mixing them together.
The result will be its opposite or ‘complementary’ color.

ANALOGOUS COLORS


Analogous colors sit next to one another on the color wheel.
These colors are in harmony with one another.