View source for Secondary color

{{Short description|Color made by mixing two primary colors}}
[[File:SubtractiveColorMixingII.png|thumb|250x250px|'''The  basic colors of pigments: primary cyan, magenta, and yellow, blended to form secondary red, green, and blue.'''|alt=What are secondary colors and give examples ]]
A '''secondary color''' is a [[Color|color]] made by [[Physics:Color mixing|mixing]] of two [[Primary color|primary color]]s in a given [[Color space|color space]].

==Additive secondaries==
{{Main|Additive color}}

===Light (RGB)===
{{Main|RGB color model}}

For the human eye, good primary colors of light are [[Red|red]], [[Green|green]], and [[Blue|blue]].  Combining lights of these colors produces a large range of visible colors.

{| style="background-color:white; border:1px #aaa solid" cellpadding="2px"
|-
| align="center" | [[Red|red]]
| {{color|red|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Green|green]]
| {{color|lime|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Yellow|yellow]]
| {{color|yellow|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Green|green]]
| {{color|lime|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Blue|blue]]
| {{color|blue|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Cyan|cyan]]
| {{color|cyan|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Blue|blue]]
| {{color|blue|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Red|red]]
| {{color|red|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Magenta|magenta]]
| {{color|magenta|(●)}}
|}

That is, the primary and secondary RGB colors (with secondary colors in boldface) are: 
{|
|-
|width=10%|{{legend|red|<br>[[Red|red]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|yellow|<br>'''[[Yellow|yellow]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|lime|<br>[[Green|green]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|cyan|<br>'''[[Cyan|cyan]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|blue|<br>[[Blue|blue]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|magenta|<br>'''[[Magenta|magenta]]'''}}
|}

Combining RGB colors means adding light (thus the term "additive color"), and the combinations are brighter.  When all three primaries are combined in equal amounts, the result is [[White|white]].

The RGB secondary colors produced by the addition of light turn out to be good primary colors for pigments, the mixing of which subtracts light.

==Subtractive secondaries==
{{Main|Subtractive color}}

Pigments, such as inks and paint, display color by absorbing some wavelengths of light and reflecting the remainder.  When pigments are combined, they absorb the combination of their colors, and reflect less.  Thus, combining pigments results in a darker color.  This is called subtractive color-mixing, as mixing pigments subtracts wavelengths from the light that is reflected.

===Printing (CMYK)===
{{Main|CMYK color model}}
The mixture of equal amounts of these colors produce the secondary colors [[Red|red]], [[Blue|blue]], and [[Lime (color)|"lime" green]] (the RGB primary colors of light), as follows:

{| style="background-color:white; border:1px #aaa solid" cellpadding="2px"
|-
| align="center" | [[Cyan|cyan]]
| {{color|cyan|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Magenta|magenta]]
| {{color|magenta|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Blue|blue]]
| {{color|blue|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Magenta|magenta]]
| {{color|magenta|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Yellow|yellow]]
| {{color|yellow|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Red|red]]
| {{color|red|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Yellow|yellow]]
| {{color|yellow|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Cyan|cyan]]
| {{color|cyan|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Green|green]]
| {{color|lime|(●)}}
|}

That is, the primary and secondary CMY colors (with secondary colors in boldface) are: 
{|
|-
|width=10%|{{legend|cyan|<br>[[Cyan|cyan]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|blue|<br>'''[[Blue|blue]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|magenta|<br>[[Magenta|magenta]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|red|<br>'''[[Red|red]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|yellow|<br>[[Yellow|yellow]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|lime|<br>'''[[Green|green]]'''}}
|}

Ideally, combining three perfect primary colors in equal amounts would produce [[Black|black]], but this is impossible to achieve in practice. Therefore a "key" pigment, usually black, is added to printing to produce dark shades more efficiently. This combination is referred to as [[CMYK color model|CMYK]], where K stands for Key.

===Traditional painting (RYB)===
{{Main|RYB color model}}
Before the discovery of CMY, at least as far back as [[Biography:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], the best primary colors were thought to be [[Red|red]], [[Yellow|yellow]], and [[Blue|blue]]. Mixing these pigments in equal amounts produces [[Orange (colour)|orange]], [[Green|green]], and [[Purple|purple]]:<ref>Sometimes called [[Violet (color)|violet]]. This model is commonly used in painting today. </ref>

{| style="background-color:white; border:1px #aaa solid" cellpadding="2px"
|-
| align="center" | [[Red|red]]
| {{color|#FF0000|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Yellow|yellow]]
| {{color|#FFFF00|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | orange
| {{color|#FF8000|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Yellow|yellow]]
| {{color|#FFFF00|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Blue|blue]]
| {{color|#0000FF|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Green|green]]
| {{color|#00FF00|(●)}}
|-
| align="center" | [[Blue|blue]]
| {{color|#0000FF|(●)}}
| +
| align="center" | [[Red|red]]
| {{color|#FF0000|(●)}}
| =
| align="center" | [[Purple|purple]]
| {{color|#8000FF|(●)}}
|}

That is, the primary and secondary RYB colors (with secondary colors in boldface) are:<ref name=RYB>[http://www.paintassistant.com/rybrgb.html RGB approximations of RYB tertiary colors, using cubic interpolation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628074235/http://www.paintassistant.com/rybrgb.html |date=2013-06-28 }}</ref>

{|
|-
|width=10%|{{legend|#FF0000|<br>[[Red|red]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|#FF8000|<br>'''[[Orange (colour)|orange]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|#FFFF00|<br>[[Yellow|yellow]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|#00FF00|<br>'''[[Green|green]]'''}}
|width=10%|{{legend|#0000FF|<br>[[Blue|blue]]}}
|width=10%|{{legend|#8000FF|<br>'''[[Purple|purple]]'''}}
|}

==See also==
*[[Color theory]]
*Color wheel
*List of colors
*[[Primary color]]
*Tertiary color
*[[Grey|Neutral color]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Color topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secondary Color}}
[[Category:Secondary colors| ]]

fr:Couleur dite complémentaire

{{Sourceattribution|Secondary color}}