There are certain properties of color learning the differences between them will help you to appreciate the many nuances of color. The most important words are:

• Hue: This is a synonym for the name of the color that reflects the dominant wavelength; for example red, blue, yellow and so on.
• Saturation: Saturation or chroma describes the intensity of a color-how much or how little gray it contains. The purer a color, the more it approaches the colors of the spectrum and the greater its saturation. So the word "saturation" means just that-the color can't be any "truer" than that. Colors at their highest chroma or saturation are at their ultimate brilliance, while lowered saturation makes them much more subdued and muted.
• Value: The lightness or darkness of a color is called its value. Closely related values are seen as calm and quiet, while sharp changes in value suggest more drama. The impact of color is not just about the actual hue, but also involves the saturation and value.
• Undertone: This denotes an underlying color within any given hue. For example, yellow in yellowish green, red in reddish violet, gray in grayish blue. Another word for undertone is cast, as in brown with a red cast.
• Tone: A mixture of a saturated color with gray.
• Shade: Although this word is often used interchangeably with the word color, a shade is actually a mixture of a fully saturated hue with black.
• Tint: A tint is a mixture of a saturated hue with white, so that pastels are all tints.

Portions reproduced from "THE COLOR ANSWER BOOK" with the permission of Leatrice Eiseman.