foreign.
Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
Meaning & usage
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
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
Alien; strange; uncharacteristic.
It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
From a different legal jurisdiction (state, province), even if within the same country.
Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.
Outside, outdoors, outdoor.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *dʰworéh₂ Proto-Italic *þworā Proto-Italic *fworā Proto-Italic *forā Latin *fora Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂der. Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ns Proto-Italic *-ans Latin -ās Latin forās Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *dʰwṓr Proto-Italic *θworeis < *θworis Latin forīs < foris ▲ Latin -ānus Vulgar Latin *forānus Old French forainbor. ▲ Middle English ferinflu. Middle English foreyn ▲ English reigninflu.? English foreign From Middle English foreyn, forein, from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus (“outsider, outlander”), from Latin forās (“outside, outdoors”) or forīs (“outside, outdoors”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ (“foreign”) and now-dialectal English fremd, from Old English fremde (“strange, foreign”). The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).
A foreign person A foreigner: a person from another country.
A foreign person An outsider: a person from another place or group.
A foreign person A non-guildmember.
A foreign vehicle A foreign ship.
A foreign vehicle A foreign whip, a car produced abroad.
An outhouse; an outdoor toilet.
A foreign area An area of a community that lies outside the legal town or parish limits.
A foreign area An area of a monastery outside its legal limits or serving as an outer court.
Short for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *dʰworéh₂ Proto-Italic *þworā Proto-Italic *fworā Proto-Italic *forā Latin *fora Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂der. Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ns Proto-Italic *-ans Latin -ās Latin forās Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *dʰwṓr Proto-Italic *θworeis < *θworis Latin forīs < foris ▲ Latin -ānus Vulgar Latin *forānus Old French forainbor. ▲ Middle English ferinflu. Middle English foreyn ▲ English reigninflu.? English foreign From Middle English foreyn, forein, from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus (“outsider, outlander”), from Latin forās (“outside, outdoors”) or forīs (“outside, outdoors”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ (“foreign”) and now-dialectal English fremd, from Old English fremde (“strange, foreign”). The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.