The Demise of De Luxe

The Demise of De Luxe The Demise of De Luxe The Demise of De Luxe By Maeve Maddox In a conversation about hotels the other evening, I heard a woman say â€Å"the lobby was luxe.† I’d never heard luxe without the de. At least not in English. In the French expression the de is a preposition and the luxe is a noun, literally â€Å"of luxury.† In English wed say luxurious. Following French usage, the OED entry gives de luxe as two words and classifies it as an adjective phrase. Merriam-Webster spells deluxe as one word and defines it as â€Å"notably luxurious or elegant; sumptuous or elaborate.† Booksellers have long offered deluxe editions of popular books and the label has spread to other products: The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collectors edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including cars, fine wine and other products. Wikipedia Apparently just plain luxe enjoys wide popularity. Numerous hotels call themselves Luxe Hotel. Luxe and deluxe bump up against each other in newspaper coverage, for example this story in the San Francisco Business Times uses â€Å"luxe† in the headline and â€Å"deluxe† in the story S.F. tower to become luxe hotel (headline) Partners will likely shell out an additional $500 a square foot to convert it from an empty ATT office to the deluxe downtown destination. I came across a hotel site (Maddens on Gull Lake) that offers luxury accommodations, premium accommodations and deluxe accommodations. The word luxe derives from Latin luxus, â€Å"excess† or â€Å"abundance.† I plan to keep putting a de with my luxe. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals"Latter," not "Ladder"The Difference Between "Un-" and "Dis-"