Color Glossary
Named colors and color theory terminology.
Additive Color Mixing
Color TheoryA method of creating colors by combining different wavelengths of light, where adding all colors together produces white.
2 articles
Analogous Colors
Color TheoryThree or more colors that sit adjacent to each other on the color wheel, sharing a common hue family.
20 articles
Brightness
Color TheoryThe perceived intensity of light emitted or reflected by a color, where maximum brightness represents the purest form of the hue.
183 articles
Chroma
Color TheoryThe purity or intensity of a color, describing how vivid it appears compared to a neutral gray of the same lightness.
518 articles
Color Mixing
Color TheoryThe process of combining two or more colors to produce a new color, either through additive or subtractive methods.
16 articles
Color Relationships
Color TheoryThe visual and perceptual connections between colors based on their positions on the color wheel and their shared properties.
30 articles
Color Temperature
Color TheoryThe perceived warmth or coolness of a color, typically associated with reds and yellows (warm) or blues and greens (cool).
65 articles
Color Theory
Color TheoryThe body of practical guidance and scientific principles for understanding how colors interact, combine, and affect human perception.
36 articles
Color Value
Color TheoryThe relative lightness or darkness of a color, independent of its hue or saturation.
98 articles
Color Wheel
Color TheoryA circular diagram that organizes colors by their chromatic relationship, showing primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
169 articles
Complementary Colors
Color TheoryTwo colors positioned directly opposite each other on the color wheel, creating maximum contrast when paired.
60 articles
Hue
Color TheoryThe attribute of a color that distinguishes it as red, blue, green, yellow, or any other chromatic color on the spectrum.
1489 articles
Lightness
Color TheoryThe perceived amount of light reflected by a color, ranging from black (0%) to white (100%).
717 articles
Primary Colors
Color TheoryColors that cannot be created by mixing other colors and serve as the basis for all other color mixing.
82 articles
Saturation
Color TheoryThe intensity or purity of a color, ranging from a vivid hue to a muted gray.
655 articles
Secondary Colors
Color TheoryColors created by mixing two primary colors in equal proportions.
37 articles
Shade
Color TheoryA color produced by adding black to a pure hue, making it darker.
864 articles
Split-Complementary
Color TheoryA color scheme using one base color and the two colors adjacent to its complement on the color wheel.
69 articles
Subtractive Color Mixing
Color TheoryA method of creating colors by combining pigments, inks, or dyes that absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others, where combining all colors produces black.
2 articles
Tertiary Colors
Color TheoryColors produced by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color on the color wheel.
19 articles
Tetradic Colors
Color TheoryA color scheme using four colors arranged into two complementary pairs, forming a rectangle on the color wheel.
Tint
Color TheoryA color produced by adding white to a pure hue, making it lighter.
326 articles
Tone
Color TheoryA color produced by adding gray (both black and white) to a pure hue, reducing its saturation.
1317 articles
Triadic Colors
Color TheoryThree colors evenly spaced at 120-degree intervals around the color wheel, forming an equilateral triangle.
5 articles