Standard Lemma guide

puce

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pjuːs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Northern-Ireland, Scotland: /ˈpjʉs/
  • rhymes with -uːs

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a brownish-purple color, sometimes more or less deep red or grayish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A brownish-purple color, sometimes more or less deep red or grayish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a color varying from dark purplish brown to dark red

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: brown, brownness

History

Etymology

From French couleur puce, from Latin pūlex (“flea”).

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: tmavě fialový — colour
  • Finnish: punaisenruskea — colour
  • Greek: ερυθρόμαυρος (erythrómavros) — colour
  • Irish: ruachorcra — colour
  • Japanese: 暗赤色の (ansekishoku no) — colour
  • Norwegian: dyp rød — colour
  • Norwegian: ildrød — colour
  • Norwegian: loppefarget — colour
  • Norwegian: mørk purpurrød — colour
  • Norwegian: rødbrun — colour
  • Welsh: gwineugoch — colour
  • Welsh: glasgoch — colour
  • Welsh: piws — colour
  • Afrikaans: persbruin — colour
  • Czech: tmavě fialová — colour
  • Greek: ερυθρόμαυρο (erythrómavro) — colour
  • Japanese: 暗赤色 (ansekishoku) — colour
  • Norwegian: dypt rødt — colour
  • Norwegian: ildrødt — colour
  • Norwegian: loppefarge — colour
  • Norwegian: mørkt purpurrødt — colour
  • Norwegian: rødbrunt — colour
  • Portuguese: cor de pulga — colour
  • Spanish: granate — colour
  • Welsh: gwineugoch — colour
  • Welsh: glasgoch — colour
  • Welsh: piws — colour