puce

[ pyoos ]
See synonyms for: pucepuces on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. of a dark or brownish purple.

noun
  1. a dark or brownish purple.

Origin of puce

1
1780–90; <French: literally, flea <Latin pūlic-, stem of pūlex

Words Nearby puce

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use puce in a sentence

  • It was hard, at this stage, not to feel sorry for the man, not to wince each time the camera panned to his puce-complexioned face.

    Why I Feel Tony Hayward's Pain | Tunku Varadarajan | June 17, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Madame Bauche was dressed in a new puce silk dress, and looked very magnificent on the occasion.

    La Mere Bauche | Anthony Trollope
  • Another dress, composed of deep violet or puce-color silk, has the flounces edged also with rows of black velvet.

  • Apparently the geranium red costume is Sunday only, the week-day is this maroon, or puce, or madder-brown.

    Sea and Sardinia | D. H. Lawrence
  • She wore a puce silk paletot, and a brown hat trimmed with black lace; an unbecoming costume for one so tall.

    Trevlyn Hold | Mrs. Henry Wood

British Dictionary definitions for puce

puce

/ (pjuːs) /


noun
    • a colour varying from deep red to dark purplish-brown

    • (as adjective): a puce carpet

Origin of puce

1
C18: shortened from French couleur puce flea colour, from Latin pūlex flea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012