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I’d like to include the following phrase in my children’s book:

with trumpets and fanfares extraordinaire

I don’t know whether it should instead be

with trumpets and fanfares extraordinaires

Should I write that with or without the silent s at the end?

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I'd advise against using it in a children's book for Anglophones unless they live in Belgium, Canada, Chad, New Orleans, or Switzerland, and no "s" on the end if you must include it. I like the M-W-online example sentence: the sort of chef extraordinaire who can whip up a fantastic meal, regardless of the ingredients on hand. Any use not analogous to this one seems gratuitous & pretentious to me. But that's only because I love French. – Bill Franke Mar 6 at 14:10
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Don't use it in English unless you can speak French. And don't pluralize it in English; English adjectives don't inflect for plural. – John Lawler Mar 6 at 16:20

1 Answer

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I am assuming that you are French. :)

I would definitely suggest that you not include the silent s, as English speakers will find this confusing. Even though the idiomatic placement of the word extraordinaire after the noun is derived from french, I don’t think the silent s would be as well.

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