What term describes any color produced by combining equal amounts of two primary colors?

• A. Primary color
• B. Tertiary color
• C. Secondary color
• D. Analogous color

Answer: (C)

When two primary colors are mixed in equal amounts, the result is a secondary color. In painting, the primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. Mixing red and yellow in equal parts gives orange; blue and yellow give green; red and blue give purple. These are called secondary colors because they arise directly from combining two primaries in equal measure. A primary color isn’t created by mixing; a tertiary color comes from mixing a primary with a neighboring secondary, and an analogous color describes colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel, not the result of mixing equal primaries.