Triad.  The first or primary triad colors in the color wheel (or spectrum) are red, blue and yellow.  (Navy suit, pale yellow shirt, burgundy tie)  These are called pure colors because mixing them with each other and/or with white or black can make all other colors.

The second (or secondary) triad colors in the color wheel are orange, green and purple.  Made by mixing two primary colors together.  Mixing red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and combining red and blue produce purple.
 

Analogous colors, (also known as adjacent colors, harmonious colors, and related colors), are colors which are next to each other on the color spectrum or wheel, and are closely related, such as blue, blue-green and green.  Red and orange, blue and purple, blue and green, green and yellow, yellow and orange and red and purple.

Achromatic Color:  see neutral colors.

Chroma – see Saturation and Intensity.

Chromatic     That which is perceived as having a hue or pure color (not white, gray, or black)

Color Wheel: An arrangement of colors sequentially in a circular pattern so that each secondary color lies between the two primary colors of which it is an equal mixture, and opposite the primary color to which it is the complement.  Each tertiary color is positioned between the primary and secondary colors of which it is an equal mixture.  

Complementary colors: The complement of each color is located opposite each other on the color wheel.   Blue, for example, is the complement of orange.   Other examples are red and green, plus yellow and purple.  Complementary colors enhance each other.

Compound colors: Colors that contain all three primary colors.

Cool colors: (green, blue, violet) are associated with the colors of water, sky and foliage. They are calming, unassuming and they appear to recede. 

Earth colors: Naturally occurring pigments usually metal oxides obtained from mining, such as ocher and umber that are in a subdued color range. 

Hue: The name of a color as found in its pure state in the spectrum (with no black or white added).  The quality of a color responsible for its name by which it is distinguished from other colors, as red, green or blue.

Intensity: The purity of hue (see saturation or chroma). For example, an intense red is one that is a very strong, pure red color.   When a lighter or darker color is added to a color, the intensity will be less bright.

Intermediate colors:  Also called tertiary colors, these colors include combination of two secondary colors, or a combination of a primary color and either of the two secondary colors adjacent to it, such as orange red, yellow orange, yellow green, blue green, blue violet, and red violet.

Lightness: (brightness, reflectance, value) position on the gray scale between pure black and pure white.

Monochromatic: having one color.  All the elements of your attire, room, painting, etc. are of the same hue, but may vary by quality (intensity, tint, tone, shade, value).  All blue attire could consist of a Navy suit, light blue shirt, dark blue tie, blue pocket square, etc.

Neutral colors: (also achromatic, or non-chromatic meaning “without color”) are shades of white, gray or black that have no hue.  Or any colors containing a significant amount of gray.  Most neutrals are tinted slightly with a warm or cool color (beige).  These shades go with most colors.

Pastel:  A soft delicate hue; a pale color.  See tint.

Primary colors: (AKA Triad colors) Red, yellow and blue. These are colors that cannot be derived from the mixture of any other colors on the palette.

Quality: Refers to the aspects of a color - tint, tone, shade, value, and brightness.

Saturation or Chroma: (also Intensity) Relates to the purity or amount of pigment in the color and determines the degree of brightness or dullness of a color.  Color intensity or purity of tone, being the degree of freedom from gray.  A pure hue, without the addition of another color, has the highest saturation and is the most vivid. Navy blue is a “dark” blue. 

Secondary colors: orange, green, and violet. These colors are made from the mixture of two primary colors. Their hues are midway between the two primary colors used to mix them.  If you mix primary colors red with yellow you have orange.

Shade: A color that has been darkened by the addition of black.  e.g., adding black to green makes a darker shade of green.

Spectrum: The distribution of colors, arranged in order of wavelengths, which make up the light from any particular source. The simplest example of this concept is a rainbow, a natural display of the visible spectrum.

Tint: A color that has been lightened by the addition of white. - e.g., adding white to red makes pink. 

Tone: The relative strength of a hue as it approaches black or white at the opposite ends of the values scale.  Each hue has many tones. Mixed with white a color is “pale” in tone; mixed with black it becomes “dark” in tone.  The upper or lower extremes of any color would be white or gray and black. 

Tertiary colors: see intermediate colors.

Value: (also see Saturation, Intensity and Chroma) The degree of lightness or darkness in a color. The quality by which a pale or light color is distinguished from a deep or dark one.  Values can be expressed by shades, tints, and tones.

Value scale: A series of spaces filled with tints and shades of one color, starting with white or the lightest tint at one end and gradually changing into the darkest shade or black at the other end.

Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) are associated with fire and the sun. They will psychologically suggest emotion, energy and warmth while optically moving the subject to the foreground.