French, literally, flea, from Old French pulce, from Latin pulic-, pulex — more at psylla. First Known Use. 1781, in the meaning defined above. Time Traveler. The first known use of puce was in 1781.
'Duck fleas' (or 'puces de canard' in French) are actually a relatively common problem that can result from swimming in Lac Leman. They can lead to an itchy skin rash known as 'swimmers itch' or 'swimmers dermatitis'.
The scientific name for fleas is Siphonaptera, which comes from the Greek words 'siphon', meaning pipe, and 'aptera', meaning wingless, relating to the sucking mouthparts and wingless condition of fleas.
flea (n.) Old English flea "flea," from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (source also of Old Norse flo, Middle Dutch vlo, German Floh), perhaps related to Old English fleon "to flee," with a notion of "the jumping parasite," but more likely from PIE *plou- "flea" (source also of Latin pulex, Greek psylla; see Pulex).
Entomology. Species name/Classification: Siphonaptera: Pulicidae (Pulex irritans, Xenopsylla cheopis, Ctenocephalides felis) Common names: House or human flea (Pulex irritans), Oriental or tropical rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
It's a very common term of endearment in France. Une puce is a flea (as in un marché aux puces - a flea market or vintage market) but calling someone ma puce is actually a nice thing. It's a very common term of affection in France, usually between lovers but it can also be used for family members.
French is the language of love and romance. If you visit France and fall head over heels for someone, you might call them mon amour (pronounced: mohn ah-mor), which means 'my love,' mon bébé (pronounced: mohn bay-bay), meaning 'my baby,' or mon ange (pronounced: mohn ahnj), which means 'my angel. '
Biche means 'doe' in English, but the expression ma biche is more like 'darling' or 'love'. It's just for the ladies, but not necessarily for a lover. It can also be used when addressing a friend or family member.
Which color takes its name from the French word for flea?
Puce is a brownish purple color. The term comes from the French couleur puce, literally meaning "flea color". Puce became popular in the late 18th century in France.
New fossils found in China are evidence of the oldest fleas — from 125 million to 165 million years ago, said Diying Huang of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology.
Fleas mainly feed on non-human animals but can bite and infect humans. They can be difficult to remove from the home and can survive for more than 100 days without a host. Bites from fleas can trigger allergic reactions, but they will not often have a serious impact on a person's health.
Humans can get fleas in their hair, but they won't be able to live there for long. Human hair (on your head or anywhere else on your body) typically isn't thick enough for fleas to survive. Even if a flea lands on you, it will jump off soon in search of better shelter.
Adult fleas are black to reddish- brown, but young adults that haven't had their first blood meal are quite small and black in color; after feeding they expand and appear lighter brown. The hairy, worm-like, white larvae, which are 1/16 to 3/16 inches long, have a distinct brown head.
How do you say magret de canard in English? The translation would be “duck breast” although as I explained earlier, the French use a particular duck breast for this recipe. You can use the duck that is available to you though.
At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft.
