: a dark red

Examples of puce in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There’s so much richness here: there’s the spirit of the puces (flea market), the idea of clothes that have lived before. Tina Isaac-Goizé, Vogue, 3 July 2023 But this week, at least, the most reliable method for inducing puce-faced rage in the Brussels diplomatic corps has been to utter the word Spitzenkandidaten. The Economist, 22 Feb. 2018 Tired of painting test areas of a wall with endless shades of puce? Jay Samit, Fortune, 16 Aug. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puce.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

French, literally, flea, from Old French pulce, from Latin pulic-, pulex — more at psylla

First Known Use

1781, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of puce was in 1781

Dictionary Entries Near puce

Cite this Entry

“Puce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puce. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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