Secondary color

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A secondary color is a color made by mixing two primary colors in a given color space. Examples include the following:

Additive secondaries[]

Main article: Additive color

Light (RGB)[]

Main article: RGB color model


red	(●)	+	green	(●)	=	yellow	(●)
green	(●)	+	blue	(●)	=	cyan	(●)
blue	(●)	+	red	(●)	=	magenta	(●)

Subtractive secondaries[]

Main article: Subtractive color

Pigment (CMY)[]

Main article: CMYK color model


cyan	(●)	+	magenta	(●)	=	blue	(●)
magenta	(●)	+	yellow	(●)	=	red	(●)
yellow	(●)	+	cyan	(●)	=	green	(●)

This is often referred to as CMYK where K stands for Key (usually black). In theory, solid overlapping layers of C, M, and Y ink produce black. In reality the outcome is dirty brown unless mixed exactly evenly so the black ink replaces the other three layers. See under color removal.

Traditional painting (RYB)[]

Main article: RYB color model


red	(●)	+	yellow	(●)	=	orange	(●)
yellow	(●)	+	blue	(●)	=	green	(●)
blue	(●)	+	red	(●)	=	violet	(●)

RYB uses pigments, similar to CMY, which combine subtractively by absorbing light. Thus, combining colors using the RYB color system will result in a darker color.

v·d·e Color topics
Color perception	Color vision^, Color blindness^, Visible spectrum^, Color constancy^, Color term^, Color theory^, Complementary color
Color space	Hue^, Lightness^, Colorfulness^, Additive color^, Subtractive color^, Primary color^, Secondary color^, Tertiary color
Basic colors	White^, Grey^, Black^, Red^, Yellow^, Green^, Blue^, Purple^, Orange^, Brown^, Pink
Related	Pantone^, Distinguishing blue from green in language^, Grue and bleen