Puce is a brownish purple colour. The term comes from the French , literally meaning "

flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...

colour". Puce became popular in the late 18th century in France. It appeared in clothing at the court of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

. The colour was said to be a favourite colour of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

; however, there are no portraits of her wearing it. Puce was also a popular fashion colour in 19th-century

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In his novel ,

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

describes a woman "dressed in a dark gown of an equivocal colour, somewhere between puce and goose shit." In

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's , Mademoiselle Baptistine wears "a gown of puce-coloured silk, of the fashion of 1806, which she had purchased at that date in Paris, and which had lasted ever since."

Variations of puce

Puce (ISCC-NBS)

The color to the right is the color called puce in the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955). Since this color has a hue code of 353, it is a slightly purplish red.

Puce (Maerz and Paul)

The color box to the right shows the color called ''puce'' in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, ''A Dictionary of Color''; the color ''puce'' is displayed on page 37, Plate 7, Color Sample H4.

Puce (Pourpre color list)

At right is the color called ''puce'' in the Pourpre.com color list, a color list widely popular in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. This is the original ''puce'', from which all other tones of puce ultimately derive.

Puce (Pantone)

The color at right is called ''puce'' in the

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...

color list. The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #19-1518 TPX—Puce.

References