puce
/pjuːs/noun, adjective
puce is spelled P-U-C-E: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 98,107th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, puce means “A brownish-purple color, sometimes more or less deep red or grayish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of puce is puces.
How many letters and syllables are in puce?
| Letters | 4: P-U-C-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words; the 98,107th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is puce?
Puce appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 98,107th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce puce?
- /pjuːs/
- /ˈpjʉs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-puce.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of puce
- puces plural
- pucer comparative
- pucest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does puce mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A brownish-purple color, sometimes more or less deep red or grayish.
adjective
- 1
Of a brownish-purple color, sometimes more or less deep red or grayish.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Puce in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense colour:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | cor de pulga |
| Spanish | granate |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does puce come from?
From French couleur puce, from Latin pūlex (“flea”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).