Munsell method:

Colour descriptions and specifications normally include three properties: hue; saturation and brightness. Hue linked a colour with some position in the colour spectrum. Red, green, and yellow are hue names. Saturation explained the vividness or purity of a colour or it describes how diluted the colour is by white light. Pure spectral colours are fully saturated colours and grays are desaturated colours. Brightness is associated to the intensity, value, or lightness of the colour.

There exists a rich wealth of studies and measure colours. Some of methods are subjective such as Munsell and pigment-mixing methods. The Munsell method is extensively used and is based on visually comparing unknown colours against a set of standard colours. The pigment-mixing method is used by artists. Other methods utilized in physics are objective and treat visible light with a given wavelength as an electromagnetic energy with a spectral energy distribution.