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"fancy (elegant, upmarket)" in seven languages

Meaningfancy (elegant, upmarket)

Spanish

elegante

/eleˈɡante/

learned

De lujo 'luxury' is common too: un hotel de lujo.

French

chic

/ʃik/

other source · French chic, a 19th-century word of disputed origin

Invariable in everyday use: des restaurants chic or chics.

Italian

elegante

/eleˈɡante/

learned

Portuguese

chique

/ˈʃiki/

other source · French chic, of disputed origin

Romanian

elegant

/eleˈɡant/

learned

Catalan

elegant

/ələˈɡan/

learned

English

fancy

/ˈfænsi/

other source · contraction of fantasy (Old French fantasie)

A fancy was first a whim of the imagination.

English → Italianfancy (elegant, upmarket)eleganteNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: elegant, elegance.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

ELEGANTEM‘choosy, refined’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

English fancy is fantasy worn short. Spanish and Italian call a smart place elegante (or de lujo, di lusso); French says chic, a word English later borrowed back.

English relatives: elegant, elegance

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In a sentence

  • esCenamos en un restaurante elegante.
  • frOn a dîné dans un restaurant chic.
  • itAbbiamo cenato in un ristorante elegante.
  • ptJantamos num restaurante chique.
  • roAm luat cina într-un restaurant elegant.
  • caVam sopar en un restaurant elegant.
  • enWe had dinner in a fancy restaurant.

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