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Puce Color Codes

Puce is a mid-tone, muted red with the hex code #CC8899, RGB values of 204, 136, 153 and an HSL value of hsl(345, 40%, 67%).

HEX#CC8899
RGB204, 136, 153
HSLhsl(345, 40%, 67%)
HSV345°, 33%, 80%
CMYK0%, 33%, 25%, 20%
LAB63.96, 28.35, 1.67
CIELCHuv63.96, 42.64, 356.30°
Nearest Pantone
PMS 687 C ΔE 3.0 · approximate
Nearest CSS name
rosybrown ΔE 12.4

Source Wikipedia, List of colors

Puce Color Hex Code

The Puce color hex code is #CC8899. Those six digits are three pairs, CC for red, 88 for green and 99 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.

#CC8899

Puce Color RGB Code

The Puce RGB code is rgb(204, 136, 153). Red carries the most light at 204 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.

rgb(204, 136, 153)

Puce Color HSV Code

The Puce HSV code is 345°, 33%, 80%. Read it as a hue of 345 degrees, 33% saturation and 80% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.

345°, 33%, 80%

Puce Color CIELChuv Code

The Puce CIELCHuv code is 63.96, 42.64, 356.30°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 64 means mid-toned to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 43 is how far it sits from grey.

63.96, 42.64, 356.30°

Tonal scale

What are Puce Color Palettes?

A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.

Shades, toward black

Tints, toward white

Tones, toward grey

Open in the shades & tints generator →

Palettes

What are Puce Color Palette Codes?

Each of these is a hue rotation from #CC8899. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.

Complementary

Half a turn away is #88CCBB, a light, muted spring green. This is the widest separation the wheel offers, and the reason complementary pairs are the default for anything that must stand out. Neither is especially saturated, so this pairing stays calm enough for large areas of both.

Analogous

Either side sit #CC88BB and #CC9988, 30 degrees out. Low tension by construction: useful when you need several related tones that still feel like one choice.

Triadic

#99CC88 and #8899CC complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.

Split-complementary

Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #88CC99 and #88BBCC. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.

Tetradic

Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #88CCBB, and #BBCC88 with #9988CC. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat the darkest of the four as the lead and hold the other three well back.

See these on the color wheel →

Accessibility

Contrast checker: is Puce accessible?

Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.

White background

2.78:1

2.78

contrast ratio on white background

ElementAAAAA
Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 Fails Fails
Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 Fails Fails
UI component needs 3:1 Fails n/a

Black background

7.55:1

7.55

contrast ratio on black background

ElementAAAAA
Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1 Passes Passes
Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1 Passes Passes
UI component needs 3:1 Passes n/a

At 2.78:1 against white, Puce is a fill color rather than a text color. Use it for surfaces, borders and large display type, and set the copy in ink. Text placed on it should be black, which gives 7.55:1.

Check Puce against another color →

Color vision

How Puce looks with color blindness

Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.

Protanopia

About 1% of men
actual

#B3B295

Puce changes substantially here. ΔE 36.5

No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.

Deuteranopia

About 1% of men
actual

#B6BB94

Puce changes substantially here. ΔE 42.1

No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.

Tritanopia

About 1 in 10,000
actual

#C99291

Puce shifts noticeably here. ΔE 10.6

No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.

Achromatopsia

About 1 in 30,000
actual

#9B9B9B

Puce changes substantially here. ΔE 28.4

No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.

To a deuteranope, the most common form, Puce reads as #B6BB94. That is a shift of ΔE 42.1, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. It sits in the red end of the spectrum, which is exactly where red-green deficiency does its damage. Never pair it with a green of similar lightness to signal a difference in meaning: to a large minority the two become one color. The widest shift is under deuteranopia, at ΔE 42.1. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.

Simulate a whole palette →

Snippets

Using Puce in code

:root {
  --puce: #CC8899;
}

.example {
  color: var(--puce);
}