Comment by crazygringo
2 years ago
> cyan: not primary nor secondary.
That's incorrect.
The 3 primary colors of light are red green blue. The 3 secondary colors are yellow, cyan, and magenta.
The 3 primary colors used in printing are cyan, magenta, and yellow (why it's called CMYK where K is black).
Cyan is primary or secondary in both of the major color models.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_color#RGB_and_CMYK
CMY and RYB are both valid primary color sets.
RYB, being taught in grade school, has a lot of influence on how people perceive and name colors, which is what this conversation is about.
I mean, I was taught in grade school that George Washington cut down a cherry tree and then said he couldn't tell a lie. That didn't make it true.
I would hope that here on HN, people are aware of RGB primaries, and then maybe CMYK. Saying that cyan is "not primary or secondary" is just wrong. Even Wikipedia explains in the first paragraph that the RYB model has a "lack of scientific basis":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color