composant
A single, continuous (for example, floating-point) value that represents an intensity or quantity. Usually, a component value of zero represents the minimum value or intensity, and a component value of one represents the maximum value or intensity, though other normalizations are sometimes used. Because component values are interpreted in a normalized range, they are specified independently of actual resolution. Red, green, blue, alpha, and depth are always treated as components, never as indexes.
Faithful Flatworm