Primary and secondary colours, Additive and subtractive primaries, Primary colour – Oki 8c Plus User Manual
Page 7: Secondary colour, English primary and secondary colours

Colour Guide
7
English
Primary and secondary colours
In theory, all colours can be made up from a very small group
of ‘colour elements’. There are three primary colours, and
all other colours can, in theory, be obtained by mixing the
primary colours in varying proportions. Mixing two primary
colours in equal proportions produces what is known as a
secondary colour.
Additive and subtractive primaries
Primary colours can be split into two categories which are
termed additive and subtractive. It is important to note the
difference between mixing additive primaries and subtractive
primaries. For example mixing red and green inks will
produce a ‘muddy’ brown, whilst red and green light mixes
to give yellow. So in which way do the two models differ ?
RED
YELLOW
GREEN
CYAN
BLUE
MAGENTA