This is a good question.
The eye has special cells call photo receptors that help us see light and color. Specifically, there are two types of photo receptors called cones and rods. When scientists discovered cones and rods, they called named them based on their so they look like sharp rods and cones. Cones are concentrated in the fovea and help us see color and light whereas rods are in the periphery and help us see light in darker conditions.

Hope you are intrigued to ask more questions and pursue science and engineering.

We have cells in our eyes that pick up different frequencies (colors) of light. Light behaves like a traveling wave and has a frequency, and the higher the frequency, the bluer (and brighter) the light.

Different kinds of cells pick up different frequencies, which is how we can tell one color from another.

The only "light" we can detect with our eyes is actually the part of the electromagnetic spectrum called the "visible spectrum." We are unable to "see" other kinds of light, such as UV, XRay, Microwave, or Infrared with our eyes. So why can we see visible light? We have special types of neuron called photoreceptors in our eyes that detect photons (the "particles" that comprise light), and convert that information into biological signals that our bodies can process.