puce

[pyoos] /pyus/
adjective
1.
of a dark or brownish purple.
noun
2.
a dark or brownish purple.
Origin
1780-90; < French: literally, flea < Latin pūlic-, stem of pūlex
British Dictionary definitions for puce

puce

/pjuːs/
noun
1.
  1. a colour varying from deep red to dark purplish-brown
  2. (as adjective): a puce carpet
Word Origin
C18: shortened from French couleur puce flea colour, from Latin pūlex flea
Word Origin and History for puce
n.

"brownish-purple," 1787, from French puce "flea-color; flea," from Latin pucilem (nominative pulex) "flea," from PIE *plou- "flea" (cf. Sanskrit plusih, Greek psylla, Old Church Slavonic blucha, Lithuanian blusa, Armenian lu "flea"). That it could be generally recognized as a color seems a testimony to our ancestors' intimacy with vermin.