Editing Munsell color system (section)

=== Hue ===

[[File:Munsell hue wheel equal value and chroma.png|thumb|Gradient Munsell hue wheel at value 5 and constant chroma (6.24)|250px]]

Since the first rendition of the Munsell color system, each horizontal circle is divided into five principal ''hues'': '''R'''ed, '''Y'''ellow, '''G'''reen, '''B'''lue, and '''P'''urple, along with 5 intermediate hues between adjacent principal hues: '''YR''', '''GY''', '''BG''', '''PB''', and '''RP'''.<ref>{{harv|Munsell|1905}}, [https://archive.org/details/acolornotation00munsgoog/page/n16 ch.2, pg. 18]</ref> Despite [[trichromatic]] color being best described with 3 [[primary color]]s or 4 [[unique hues]], Munsell chose to define his color space with 5 principal hues to keep it [[Decimalisation|decimalized]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Munsell |first1=Albert |title=How Is the Munsell Hue Circle Relevant to Your Work |url=https://munsell.com/color-blog/primary-hue-circle-colorchecker/ |website=Munsell Color System; Color Matching from Munsell Color Company |publisher=X-Rite inc. |access-date=18 February 2025 |language=en |date=10 October 2012 |quote=He wanted to use a decimal system making each step divisible by 5 or 10—a system which is easy to understand and easy for computer programming and cataloging. That’s why Munsell used 5 principal hues—red, yellow, green, blue and purple—instead of the seven colors in the visible spectrum (ROY G BIV).}}</ref><!-- The website states the author as Albert Munsell, despite him being dead since 1918 and not describing him in first person --> Munsell describes the intermediate hues as orange, grass green, peacock blue, violet and plum,<ref>{{harv|Munsell|1905}}, [https://archive.org/details/acolornotation00munsgoog/page/n16 ch.3, pg. 28]</ref> but opts to simplify the notation with the portmanteaus of the principal colors for the sake of intuition.<ref>{{harv|Munsell|1905}}, [https://archive.org/details/acolornotation00munsgoog/page/n16 ch.4, pg. 41]</ref>

In later renditions, these 10 principal and intermediate colors were further subdivided into 10 steps each, so that at least 100 hues are definable. The sub-steps are numbered 1 to 10, which prepends the hue letter(s), e.g. ''8GY''. However, further subdivisions are possible through interpolation, e.g. ''8.7GY''. In practice, color charts conventionally specify 40 hues, in increments of 2.5, progressing as for example 10R to 2.5YR.

Two colors of equal value and chroma, on opposite sides of a hue circle, are [[complementary color]]s, and mix [[additive color|additively]] to the neutral gray of the same value. The diagram below shows 40 evenly spaced Munsell hues, with complements vertically aligned. The [[sRGB]] values of the samples are provided inside each one of the squares.

{{Munsell-hues}}