A color image segmentation method is provided. The color image segmentation method includes the steps of: (a) calculating a first value representing the degree of difference between a pixel and the color of peripheral pixels based a plurality of pixel values of an input image; (b) obtaining a converted image by converting the first calculated value into a value of a predetermined scale; and (c) segmenting the converted image. According to the color image segmentation method, an effective and an automatic segmentation is possible, and a segmentation speed is high even when segmenting an image containing much noise.