What color is puce, and why do different people give radically . . . EDIT II: To answer the question, people may associate puce with green because they confuse "puce" with "puke " This article , which asserts that Louis XVI coined "puce" to describe the color of one of Marie-Antoinette's dresses (which, truth be told, is a sort of pukey green) may lend credence to this theory