Puce

Puce is a medium grayish red-violet colour. 

Puce colours may be pale grayish red-violet, grayish red or brownish-purple colours.  

Basically, puce colours are reddish purple colours mixed with gray or brown.  A wide range of tones of puce are shown below. 

Chinese dried plums, a favorite snack among Chinese people worldwide, can be said to be puce coloured.

Where the name came from
The name is from the French word puce which means "flea".  Some people say that the colour name comes from the colour of a squashed flea or the colour of a flea full of blood. Other people say that colour name comes from the flea's droppings of digested blood, which spread out in deep red stain when water contacts them.  Still others say that the colour name means the colour of the belly of a flea. 

On the other hand, the colour name may refer to blue-lavender of the Pennyroyal flower, also named puce in French. The name may come from the use of strong-smelling Pennyroyal to ward off fleas.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) dates the use of "puce" (in couleur puce)in English from 1787. The first recorded use of puce as a color name was in the 14th century, in the French language.

Meaning of puce
 The colour puce and/or its various tones are used to signify something that is odd,  unusual, or bizarre. 
 Puce and its tones are favourite colours among those of the Goth subculture.

Tones of puce colour comparison chart
 Light Lavender Blush (Lavender Blush Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #FFF9FB) (RGB: 255, 245, 251)
 Lavender Blush (web color) (Hex: #FFF0F5) (RGB: 255, 240, 245)
 Light Melanie (Melanie Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #F4E5ED) (RGB: 244, 229, 237)
 Light Kobi (Kobi Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #F5D3E6) (RGB: 245, 211, 230)
 Light Can Can (Can Can Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #EBCBD6) (RGB: 237, 203, 214)
 Light Pale Red-Violet (Xona.com color list "Pale Violet-Red Light") (Hex: #F0B7CD) (RGB: 240, 183, 205)
 Light Puce (Puce Pink) (Hex: #FFAFC8) (RGB: 255, 175, 200)
<li style ="background-color:#ef9bb9;"> Light Cabaret (Cabaret Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #EF9BB9) (RGB: 239, 155, 185)<li>
 Light Red-Violet (Xona.com color list "Violet-Red Medium Light") (Hex: #E79EC5) (RGB: 231, 94, 197)
<li style ="background-color:#e79fc4;"> Kobi (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #C79FC4) (RGB: 231, 159, 196)<li>
 Light Blush (Blush Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #DE98B2) (RGB: 222, 152, 178)
 Light Night Shadz (Night Shadz Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #D98AA8) (RGB: 217, 138, 168)
 Light Rouge (Rouge Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #D58EB5) (RGB: 213, 142, 181)
<li style = "background-color: #d597ae;"> Pale Persian Lilac (Ridgway) (Hex: #D597AE) (RGB: 213, 151, 174) <li>
 Can Can (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #D591A4) (RGB: 213, 145, 164)
 PUCE (Hex: #CC8899) (RGB: 204, 136, 153)
 Persian Lilac (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #C17E91) (RGB: 193, 126, 145) 
 Turkish Rose (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #B57281) (RGB: 181, 114, 129)
 Rose Gold (Hex: #B76E79) (RGB: 183, 110, 121)
 English Lavender (Pantone TPX 17-3617) (Hex: #B48395) (RGB: 180, 131, 149)
 Light Cosmic (Cosmic Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #BB8CAA) (RGB: 187, 140, 170)
 Lavender Brown (Medium Vanda) (Plochere "Vanda") (Plochere) (Hex: #AA8A9E) (RGB: 170, 138, 158)
 Pharlap (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #A3807B) (RGB: 163, 128, 123)
 Bazaar (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #98777B) (RGB: 152, 119, 123)
 Rose Dust (Crayola Silver Swirls) (Hex: #9E5E6F) (RGB: 158, 94, 111)
 Mallow Purple (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #A8516E) (RGB: 168, 81, 110)
 Deep Puce (Puce (Maerz & Paul)) (Hex: #A95C68) (RGB: 169, 92, 104)
 Puce Orange (Hex: #D66F6C) (RGB: 214, 111, 108)
 Dingy Dungeon (Crayola Silly Scents) (Hex: #C53151) (RGB: 197, 49, 81)
 Light Black Rose (Black Rose Light (Xona.com Color List)) (Hex: #B12B7F) (RGB: 177, 43, 127)
 Strong Red-Purple (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #9A366B) (RGB: 154, 54, 107)
 Vietnamese Mauve (Hex: #993366) (RGB: 153, 51, 102)
 Red-Violet Eggplant (Hex: #990066) (RGB: 153, 0, 102)
 Twilight Lavender (Crayola Silver Swirls) (Hex: #8A496B) (RGB: 138, 73, 107)
 Light Bulgarian Rose (Bulgarian Rose Light (Xona.com color list)) (Hex: #9A393D) (RGB: 154, 57, 61)
 Cordovan (Pantone color planner) (Hex: #893F45) (RGB: 137, 63, 69)
 Solid Pink (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #893843) (RGB: 137, 56, 67)
 Copper Rose (Hex: #996666) (RGB: 149, 102, 102)
 Dark Chestnut   (Hex: #986960) (RGB: 152, 105, 96)
 Rose Taupe (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #905D5D) (RGB: 144, 93, 93)
 Mauve Taupe (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #915F6D) (RGB: 145, 95, 109)
 Medium Puce (Hex: #8E616A) (RGB: 142, 97, 106)
<li style="background-color: #755258; color: #ffffff"> Galaxy (Resene color list) (Hex: #755258) (RGB: 117, 77, 82) <li>
<li style="background-color: #763950; color: #ffffff"> Cosmic (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #763950) (RGB: 118, 57, 93) <li>
 Puce Red (Puce (ISCC-NBS)) (Hex: #722F37) (RGB: 114, 47, 55)
 Internet Puce (color of the puce website www.puce.com) (Hex: #681C23) (RGB: 104, 28, 35)
 Black Rose (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #67032D) (RGB: 103, 3, 45)
 Bottle Puce  (Hex: #631800) (RGB: 99, 24, 0)
 Rose Ebony (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #674846) (RGB: 103, 76, 71)
 Deep Tuscan Red (Hex: #6642D) (RGB: 102, 66, 77)
 Dark Liver (Hex: #534B4F) (RGB: 83, 75, 79)
 Purple Taupe (ISCC-NBS) (Hex: #504040) (RGB: 80,  64, 77) 	 
 Dark Puce (Puce Pantone TPX 19-1518) (Hex: #4F3A3C) (RGB: 79, 58, 60)
 French Puce (Puce (Pourpre.com)) (Hex: #4E1609) (RGB: 78, 22, 9)
 Bulgarian Rose (Xona.com color list) (Hex: #480607) (RGB: 72, 6, 7)

Related pages
 List of colors

References