Etymologically
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luxurious

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /lʌɡˈʒʊəɹi.əs/, /lʌɡˈzjʊə-/[1]
  • US: /lʌɡˈʒʊɹi.əs/, /-lʌkˈʃʊɹ-/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English luxurious, also luxorious and luxsorious,[2] borrowed from Old French luxurios (“lustful, lascivious”),[3][4][5][2] modern luxurieux,[3][6][5] from Latin luxuriōsus (“immoderate, excessive; voluptuous”),[3][6][7] from luxuria (“excess, extravagant living”),[3][6][8] the source of luxury.[3][6] The Anglo-Norman form luxurius is recorded from 1121–35, meaning lustful or lecherous.[9] Merriam-Webster takes the English word through luxurieux.[8] Luxuria comes from luxus (“excess, extravagance”), which Etymonline thinks is probably a figurative use of an adjective meaning "dislocated".[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lustful, lecherous: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin, of devils that "euer be luxsorius".[6][2] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word began with the sense the Latin and French words had of sinful excess, chiefly lust,[3][4] as did luxury, which lost its bad sense only in the 17th century.[3] Alongside "lecherous" Middle English used it for "outrageous, excessive", as Chaucer did once in his Boece (about 1374);[6][2][10] both senses are obsolete, "lecherous" by the end of the 17th century.[6][5] The modern senses followed the change in luxury: of people, "given to luxury, self-indulgent" from 1606,[6][3] and of things, "marked by luxury, sumptuously comfortable" from 1650.[6][3] Johnson (1755) still gave "lustful; libidinous", quoting Shakespeare's "the heat of a luxurious bed", beside "delighting in the pleasures of the table".[11] From 1644 it was also used for luxuriant, of growth, a sense now rare.[6][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – lascivious, lecherous (obsolete by about 1697).[6][2]
  • c. 1374 – outrageous, excessive, in Chaucer (obsolete by about 1665).[6]
  • 1606 – of people, given to luxury, self-indulgent.[6]
  • 1644 – luxuriant, of growth (now rare).[6]
  • 1650 – of things, characterized by luxury.[6]
  • 1755 – Johnson gives "delighting in the pleasures of the table" and "lustful".[11]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Marked by luxury; very comfortable, rich and costly: a luxurious hotel suite.[7][8][5]
  2. Fond of or given to luxury; self-indulgent or voluptuous.[7][5][6]
  3. Giving or expressing great pleasure to the senses: a long, luxurious stretch.[8]
  4. (rare) luxuriant, of growth.[6][5]
  5. (obsolete, c. 1330–1697) lecherous, lascivious.[6][5][7][11]

Word family

  • luxuriousness
  • luxuriously
  • overluxurious
  • superluxurious
  • unluxurious

Usage notes

Luxurious is sometimes used by mistake for luxuriant, "growing thickly": a luxuriant moustache or growth of wisteria, not a luxurious one.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  11. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.