Secondary color

However, any three primaries can produce a viable color gamut.

Tertiary color has two common, conflicting definitions, depending on context.

This definition is used by color theorists, such as Moses Harris[1] and Josef Albers.

[2] The result is approximately a less saturated form of the dominant primary color of the mixture.

[3][4] However, these tertiary colors have also been ascribed with common names: amber/marigold (yellow-orange), vermilion/cinnabar (red-orange), magenta (red-purple), violet (blue-purple), teal/aqua (blue-green), and chartreuse/lime green (yellow-green).

However, the names for the twelve quaternary colors are quite variable, and defined here only as an approximation.

Under the traditional definition, there are three tertiary colors, approximately named russet (orange–purple), slate (purple–green), and citron (green–orange), with the corresponding three quaternary colors plum (russet–slate), sage (slate–citron), buff (citron–russet) (with olive sometimes used for either slate or citron).

The RYB color terminology outlined above and in the color samples shown below is ultimately derived from the 1835 book Chromatography, an analysis of the RYB color wheel by George Field, a chemist who specialized in pigments and dyes.

Page from A New Practical Treatise on the Three Primitive Colours Assumed as a Perfect System of Rudimentary Information by Charles Hayter .
Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the RGB (CMY) color wheel, with tertiary colors described under the modern definition.
Primary colors of the CMY color model : cyan, magenta, and yellow, mixed to form secondary colors red, green, and blue.
A RYB color wheel with tertiary colors described under the modern definition.
Primary colors of the RYB color model : red, yellow, and blue, mixed to form colors orange, green, and purple.