Natwerk Designs

Is "sans" an acceptable word?

In a college essay, can I use the word sans and assume that the reader will understand? a friend was proofreading my essay for me, and she didn't know what it meant. I make a joke about how I can't draw particularly well, except stick figures, and then our group did a project and so on, and i end by saying that we successfully designed a creative poster, sans stick figures, and won blah blah blah. can i get away with that? or should i change it to without or something.

Public Comments

1. sans further explanation, yes it is.
2. I certainly hope that at the college level, everyone would understand the use of sans. It is technically not English, but if you feel that in this same essay you could use terms like "ad lib", "etcetera" or "a la", I would think it should be acceptable as well. (And I personally think it's funnier with the use of sans.)
3. "sans" means "without". Quality writing is comprehensible to its readers, so write for your audience. If in doubt keep it simple. I suggest you pay attention to your punctuation, sentence construction and grammar.