Puce Puce Puce is a dark red or purple brown color, a brownish purple or a "dark reddish brown." "Puce" is the French word for "flea". The color is said to be the color of bloodstains on linen or bedsheets, even after being laundered, from a flea's droppings, or after a flea has been crushed. The "Oxford English Dictionary" ("OED") dates the first English use of "puce" as a color to 1778. The name comes from the French word "puce", or flea, which comes from the Latin words for flea, "pulicem" or "pulex". According to the "Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology",
The Louse and the Flea The Louse and the Flea "The Louse and the Flea" or "Little Louse and Little Flea" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 30. It is Aarne-Thompson type 2022, An Animal Mourns the Death of a Spouse, and takes the form of a chain tale, sometimes known as a cumulative tale. A louse and a flea are married until the louse drowns while brewing. The flea mourns, inspiring a door to ask why and start creaking, which inspires a broom to ask why and start sweeping -- through a sequence of objects until a spring overflows