foreign
English
Etymology
From Middle English foreyn, forein, from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus (“outsider, outlander”), from Latin forās (“outside, outdoors”), also spelled forīs (“outside, outdoors”).
Displaced native Middle English elendish, ellendish (“foreign”) (from Old English elelendisc, compare Old English ellende (“foreign”), elland (“foreign land”)), Middle English eltheodi, eltheodish (“foreign”) (from Old English elþēodiġ, elþēodisc (“foreign”)), and non-native Middle English peregrin (“foreign”) (from Old French peregrin).
The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɒɹɪn/, /ˈfɒɹən/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɔɹɪn/, /ˈfɔɹən/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒrən, -ɒrɪn
- Hyphenation: for‧eign
Adjective
foreign (comparative more foreign, superlative most foreign)
- Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
- foreign markets; foreign soil
- He liked visiting foreign cities.
- Originating from, characteristic of, belonging to, or being a citizen of a country or place other than the one under discussion.
- foreign car; foreign word; foreign citizen; foreign trade
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Ayrsham Mystery[1]:
- The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.
- 2013 August 24, “Guardian warriors and golden eggs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850:
- Foreign companies love to complain about doing business in China. […] Amid such moans it is worth remembering that, for all the barriers that foreign multinationals face in China, it has welcomed them with open arms compared with the protectionism imposed by Japan and South Korea at comparable stages in their economic development.
- There are many more foreign students in Europe since the Erasmus scheme started.
- Relating to a different nation.
- foreign policy; foreign navies
- Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.
- foreign body; foreign substance; foreign gene; foreign species
- (with to, formerly with from) Alien; strange.
- It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- This design is not foreign from some people's thoughts.
- (obsolete) Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved him, / That he ran mad and died.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (US, state law) From a different one of the states of the United States, as of a state of residence or incorporation.
- Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
- My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.
- (obsolete) Outside, outdoors, outdoor.
Synonyms
- (from a different country): overseas, international
- (strange): alien, fremd
- (in a place where it does not belong): extraneous
Antonyms
- (from a different country): domestic
- (not characteristic): native
- (native to an area): indigenous
Derived terms
Translations
located outside one's own country or place
|
originating from or characteristic of a different country
|
relating to a different nation
|
not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system
alien, strange
|
held at a distance; excluded; exiled
|
US: from a different state
belonging to a different organization
|
- Asturian: (please verify) foriatu, (please verify) estranxeru (ast)
- Bengali: (please verify) বৈদেশিক (bn) (bōideśik)
- Bulgarian: (please verify) чужд (bg) (čužd)
- Catalan: (please verify) foraster (ca)
- Czech: (please verify) cizorodý
- Danish: (please verify) fremmed (da)
- Dutch: vreemd (nl), allochtoon (nl)
- French: (please verify) étranger (fr)
- German: (please verify) fremd (de)
- Gothic: (please verify) 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌸𐍃 (framaþs)
- Hebrew: (please verify) זר (he) (zar)
- Hungarian: (please verify) idegen (hu)
- Ido: (please verify) stranjera (io)
- Kurdish:
- Latin: (please verify) extraneus
- (deprecated template usage)
{{trans-mid}}
- Low German: (please verify) fromd, (please verify) frömd
- Macedonian: (please verify) туѓ (tuǵ)
- Malay: (please verify) asing
- Middle Dutch: vremt
- Middle Low German: (please verify) vrȫmede
- Navajo: (please verify) doo tʼáá diné nilíinii
- Norman: (please verify) êtrangi (Jersey)
- Novial: Lua error in Module:translations at line 71: Translations must be for attested and approved main-namespace languages.
- Old Church Slavonic: (please verify) щоуждь (štuždĭ)
- Old English: (please verify) ūtlende, (please verify) ūtlendisc, (please verify) fremede, (please verify) elelænde, (please verify) ellende, (please verify) elelendisc
- Old Saxon: (please verify) fremiði
- Polish: obcy (pl) m
- Romanian: (please verify) străin (ro)
- Scots: (please verify) fremd
- Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) coimheach, (please verify) Gallda
- Swedish: (please verify) främmande (sv)
- Turkish: (please verify) yabancı (tr)
- Vietnamese: (please verify) xa lạ (vi)
- Volapük: (please verify) foginik (vo)
Noun
foreign (plural foreigns)
- A foreign person, particularly:
- (now informal) A foreigner: a person from another country.
- 2011 August 30, "White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11" in Gawker:
- The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns.
- 2011 August 30, "White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11" in Gawker:
- (obsolete) An outsider: a person from another place or group.
- (obsolete) A non-guildmember.
- (now informal) A foreigner: a person from another country.
- (obsolete) A foreign ship.
- (obsolete) Clipping of chamber foreign: an outhouse.
- A foreign area, particularly:
- Short for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.
Synonyms
- (outhouse): chamber foreign; see also Thesaurus:bathroom
Translations
foreigner — see foreigner
References
- "foreign, adj. and n." in the Oxford English Dictionary (1897), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/ɒrən
- Rhymes:English/ɒrɪn
- English lemmas
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- en:Law
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