Origin Story
The tuxedo, that staple of formal menswear, takes its name from an unexpected source: a small town. In the late 19th century, Tuxedo Park — a resort for wealthy New Yorkers — was home to a fashionable country club. Around 1886, one of its members showed up in a short, tailless black jacket instead of the traditional long tailcoat, and this new, more comfortable style spread quickly through high society. People began calling the garment a "tuxedo," after the place where they first saw it. Curiously, the name Tuxedo itself comes from a Native American word meaning "crooked water" — a river. So at the root of this formal garment lies the image of a winding stream.
In Britain, the same garment is called a "dinner jacket." Americans named it after the town where it became fashionable, while the British named it after the occasion for wearing it.
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Online Etymology Dictionarytuxedo (n.): "man's evening dress for semi-formal occasions," 1889, named for Tuxedo Park, N.Y., a chic resort for wealthy New Yorkers where it first was worn
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Oxford English Dictionarytuxedo: from Tuxedo Park, New York, a fashionable resort where the garment was introduced
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Merriam-Webster Dictionaryfrom Tuxedo Park, New York; the place name is from an Algonquian source
Word Evolution
Words from the Same Root
Memory Hook
Hidden inside "tuxedo" is the wealthy town of Tuxedo Park. Remember it as "the formal suit that began at an elite club."
""The name of one wealthy town became the name of the world's most formal attire.""
