If one considers the inks as filters, then Cyan filters out red, Magenta filters out green and Yellow filters out blue. Although CMY seems a perfect counterpart to RGB, this is not the case. Due to impurities and other gremlins, one needs to add a blacK component to assure accuracy. Many color reproduction problems have to do with these diverse means of color generation and their inherent differences. A computer monitor creates color by inducing a glow in a phosphorescent triad of dots.
Inks simply reflect incident light.
And neither can reproduce the full spectrum of the visible colors. Compromise is the order of the day. There are other color schemes about in the world. This is particularly true of CMYK projects. Your computer may display a color not in the CMYK gamut.