The Tuxedo Is Named After a Village in New York
A tuxedo is formal evening wear. It takes its name from Tuxedo Park, a wealthy New York settlement, which took its name from a Lenape word.
A tuxedo is a man's formal evening jacket, called a dinner jacket in Britain. The name is a place: Tuxedo Park, an exclusive settlement north of New York City, where the short jacket was worn at the autumn ball of 1886 instead of tails. The place name itself comes from a Lenape word, so the garment carries an Indigenous American name.
- Formal evening wear (American). *Black tie means a tuxedo.*
- Dinner jacket (British). *He wore a dinner jacket.*
- Tux — the informal clipping. *Rent a tux.*
- Black tie — the dress code. *Black tie optional.*
- Tuxedo cat — a black and white cat. *A tuxedo cat.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | tuxedo | A hired tuxedo. |
| Plural | tuxedos | Two tuxedos. |
| Clipping | tux | In a tux. |
| British | dinner jacket | A dinner jacket. |
| European | smoking | Le smoking. |
- The invitation said black tie.The dress code, not the garment.
- He hired a tuxedo for the evening.American.
- A dinner jacket and a bow tie.British equivalent.
One garment, several names
- United States — tuxedo, or tux
- Britain — dinner jacket, or DJ
- France and Germany — *le smoking*, *der Smoking*
- Italy and Spain — *smoking* as well
- All of them describe the same jacket, invented as a less formal alternative to tails
From Tuxedo Park, New York, where the style was worn from 1886. The place name comes from a Lenape word, variously explained, recorded in colonial documents as Tucseto and similar forms.
Is a tuxedo the same as a dinner jacket?
Yes. Tuxedo is American, dinner jacket British, and much of Europe calls it a smoking.
Where does the name Tuxedo come from?
From Tuxedo Park in New York, whose name comes from a Lenape word recorded by colonial settlers.