Color wheel

A **color wheel** is a circular chart that shows primary and secondary colors.

The color wheel most commonly used today is called the _HSV color wheel_ which means _hue, saturation, value_.  The digital form of the HSV color wheel is called the RGB color wheel (shown below).  The HSV/RGB color wheel is described below.  There are two versions: one in which red, green and blue are regarded as the primary colors (called the _electronic_ or _computer_ color wheel); and one in which magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the primary colors (called the _printer's color wheel_). The primary colors are on the top.

## The primary colors

_(* Primary means first)_
In the **electronic color wheel** used for electronic devices such as televisions and computers, red, green, and blue are regarded as the _primary colors_ and magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the _secondary colors_.

The primary colors always appear on the color wheel.  There are the three primary colors of light.  These are called the three _additive colors_.  They are **red** (made in pigment by mixing yellow and magenta), **green** (made in pigment by mixing cyan and yellow), and **blue** (made in pigment by mixing magenta and cyan). The three primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the _printer's color wheel_.

The primary colors of light can be mixed together to make secondary colors. A long time ago, people used to think that the primary colors were red, yellow and blue. Now we know they were wrong.

## The secondary colors

_(* Secondary means second)_
The secondary colors are on all color wheels. Secondary colors are made by mixing the primary colors of light together. The secondary colors of light are the primary colors of pigment on the **printer's color wheel**--the color wheel used for color printing. These three colors are called the _subtractive colors_.  They are **magenta** (a bright pink), **yellow** and **cyan** (a light greenish blue).  The primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the "printer's color wheel".  The three primary colors of pigment can be mixed to make red (magenta and yellow), green (yellow and cyan), and blue (cyan and magenta), but they do not appear as bright when they are made with pigment instead of light.  The secondary colors can be mixed with the primary colors to make tertiary colors.

## The tertiary colors

_(* Tertiary means third)_ The tertiary colors are made by mixing a secondary and primary color together. The tertiary colors are **orange**, made by mixing red and yellow; **chartreuse green** (_yellow-green_), made by mixing green and yellow; **spring green**, made by mixing green and cyan; **azure**, made by mixing blue and cyan; **violet**, made by mixing blue and magenta; and **rose**, made by mixing red and magenta.

The tertiary colors are the same for both the _printer's color wheel_ and the _electronic color wheel_.

## The 12 major colors of the color wheel

The 12 major colors of the color wheel, at 30 degree intervals on the _HSV color wheel_ (shown above), are the following: red (0 degrees or 360 degrees), orange (30 degrees), yellow (60 degrees), chartreuse green (90 degrees), green (120 degrees), spring green (150 degrees), cyan (180 degrees), azure (210 degrees), blue (240 degrees), violet (270 degrees), magenta (300 degrees), and rose (330 degrees).  This constitutes the complete set of primary, secondary, and tertiary color names.

## The 12 major color wheel colors color comparison chart

Note: Red is shown twice so it can be compared to both orange and rose.
|style = "background-color: #ff0000;"|RED (web color) (Hex: #FF0000) (RGB: 255, 0, 0) (0 Degrees)|
| --- | --- |
|style = "background-color: #ff7f00;"|ORANGE (color wheel Orange)  (Hex: #FF7F00) (RGB: 255, 127, 0) (30 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #ffff00;"|YELLOW  (web color) (Hex: #FFFF00) (RGB: 255, 255, 0) (60 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #7fff00;"|CHARTREUSE GREEN (web color Chartreuse) (Hex: #7FFF00) (RGB: 127, 255, 0) (90 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #00ff00;"|GREEN (X11) (color wheel Green) (HTML/CSS “Lime”) (Electric green) (Hex: #00FF00) (RGB: 0, 255, 0) (120 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #00ff7f;"|SPRING GREEN (web color) (Hex: #00FF7F) (RGB: 0, 255, 127) (150 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #00ffff;"|CYAN (web color Aqua) (Hex: #00FFFF) (RGB: 0, 255, 255) (180 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #007fff; color: #ffffff"|AZURE (color wheel Azure) (Hex: #007FFF) (RGB: 0, 127, 255) (210 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #0000ff; color: #ffffff"|BLUE (web color) (Hex: #0000FF) (RGB: 0, 0, 255) (240 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #7f00ff; color: #ffffff"|VIOLET (color wheel Violet) (Near Violet) (Hex: #7F00FF) (RGB: 127, 0, 255) (270 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #ff00ff;"|MAGENTA (web color Fuchsia) (Hex: #FF00FF) (RGB: 255, 0, 255) (300 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #ff007f;"|ROSE (Hex: #FF007F) (RGB: 255, 0, 127) (330 Degrees)|
|style = "background-color: #ff0000;"|RED (web color) (Hex: #FF0000) (RGB: 255, 0, 0) (360 Degrees)|

## RYB color wheel

On the traditional red-yellow-blue pigment color wheel (in which red, yellow, and blue were regarded as the primary colors and orange, green, and violet were regarded as the secondary colors), the tertiary colors on a red-yellow-blue (RYB) color wheel were called red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange.