Puce

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Puce
<imagemap>Image:Information-silk.png\|About these coordinates rect 0 0 50 50 About these coordinates desc none</imagemap>— Colour coordinates —
Hex triplet		#CC8899
RGB^B	(r, g, b)	(204, 136, 153)
CMYK^H	(c, m, y, k)	(0, 73, 66, 59)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(354°, 186%, 104%)
Source		background colour at www.puce.com, codes obtained with ColorPic freeware colour picker by Iconico Software
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

Puce is a colour that is defined as ranging from reddish-brown to purplish-brown, with the latter being the more widely-accepted definition found in reputable sources. It can be used as either a noun (the name of the colour) or as an adjective (something having that colour).

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the use of "puce" (in couleur puce) from 1775. The word comes from French; puce literally means "flea", as the usual flea colouration is either dark reddish-brown or dark purplish-brown.

According to available sources, the etymology of "puce" is French "puce" from Old French "pulce", from Latin "pūlic-", "pūlex".

In 2007, a survey of 6,000 American households found that puce was judged to be the second "ugliest" color, slightly behind brown.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Puce in Western pop culture

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Comics

A collection of Walt Kelly's influential Pogo comics was called "The Pogo Puce Stamp Catalog". It had a puce cover.
In the Dilbert comic strip, the boss' favorite colour is puce, but he doesn't know that because he is mistakenly thinking of a primary colour.

Operetta

In A more humane Mikado (Let the Punishment Fit the Crime) by Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado sings of the dire fate of the woman "who stains her gray hair puce".

Film

Kenneth Anger made a short film called Puce Moment.
Santa Claus: The Movie referenced "puce" for the colour the magic lollipops that made children fly, including a humorous remark about it: "If this ever takes off, we could make this in liquid form: Puce Juice."

					Shades of pink
Pink	Carnation pink	Fuchsia	Magenta	Salmon Pink	Deep Pink	Hollywood Cerise	Hot Pink	Medium Pink	Shocking Pink	Cherry Blossom Pink	Coral Pink

French Rose	Lavender Pink	Persian Rose	Carmine Pink	Cerise Pink	Fuchsia Pink	Japanese Pink	Persian Pink	Dark Pink	Hot Magenta	Lavender Rose	Rose

Thulian Pink	Amaranth	Light Thulian Pink	Puce	Rose Pink	Tea Rose	Amaranth Pink	Brink Pink	Cerise	Deep Carmine Pink	Mountbatten pink	Ultra Pink

					Shades of red
Alizarin	Amaranth	Burgundy	Cardinal	Carmine	Cerise	Chestnut	Coral Red	Crimson	Dark Pink	Falu red

Fire engine red	Hollywood Cerise	Magenta (Process)	Maroon	Mauve taupe	Orange-Red	Persian red	Pink	Persimmon	Red	Red-violet

Rose	Ruby	Rust	Puce	Sangria	Scarlet	Terra cotta	Venetian red	Vermilion