foreigner

for·eign·er
F4O1R1E1I1G2N1E1R1
UK/ˈfɒɹ.ɪ.nə(ɹ)/US/ˈfɔɹ.ɪ.nɚ/US/ˈfɔɹ.ə.nɚ/New York City/ˈfɑɹ.ɪ.nɚ/

noun

A person from a foreign country.

Less commonScrabble 13Word of the Day · Jul 2, 2024

Meanings

nounforeigner (plural foreigners)

plural foreigners

  1. A person from a foreign country.

    For a student of American history and a foreigner like myself, it is easier to understand all these extremisms of conscience.

    1971 October 6, Alberto R. Oliva, “The American Sense of Guilt”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2024
    2 more examples

    By the existing law of Great Britain all foreigners have the unrestricted right of entrance and residence in this country; and while they remain in it are, equally with British subjects, under the protection of the law; nor can they be punished except for an offence against the law, and under the sentence of the ordinary tribunals of justice, after a public trial, and on a conviction founded on evidence given in open court. No foreigners, as such, can be sent out of this country by the Executive Government, except persons removed by virtue of treaties with other States; confirmed by Act of Parliament, for the mutual surrender of criminal offenders.

    1852 May 4, Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, quotee, “FOREIGN REFUGEES.”, in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates

    Though foreigners did play some part in fighting as mercenaries for Gadhafi during the bloody Libyan war, the IOM and local leaders in Chad say the vast majority of Chadians, like Mohammed, were working to send remittances home.

    2012 April 18, David McKenzie, “Chad’s migrant workers pay price for Libya conflict”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2026

    Synonyms: outlander, outsider · Antonyms: native

  2. A private job run by an employee at a trade factory rather than going through the business.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA person from a foreign country.

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

nouna person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country

nounsomeone who is excluded from or is not a member of a group

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishforner
  2. Englishforeigner

From Middle English forner, foreyner, foroner, forenere, augmentation of earlier forein (“foreigner”), from the adjective. Equivalent to foreign + -er. Use of the -er suffix may be due to analogy with Middle English straunger (“stranger”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans buitelander
  • buitelanderperson in a foreign land
Ancient Greek ξένος, ξένη
  • ξένος (xénos)person in a foreign land
  • ξένη (xénē)person in a foreign land
Arabic أَجْنَبِيّ, أَجْنَبِيَّة
  • أَجْنَبِيّ (ʔajnabiyy)person in a foreign land
  • أَجْنَبِيَّة (ʔajnabiyya)person in a foreign land
Basque atzerritar, kanpotar
  • atzerritar, kanpotarperson in a foreign land
Bengali বিদেশি, বিদেশিনী
  • বিদেশি (bideśi)person in a foreign land
  • বিদেশিনী (bideśini)person in a foreign land
  • আজনবি (ajnobi)person in a foreign land
Bulgarian чуждене́ц, чужденка́
  • чуждене́ц (čuždenéc)person in a foreign land
  • чужденка́ (čuždenká)person in a foreign land
  • чужденче́ (čuždenčé)person in a foreign land
Catalan foraster, forastera
  • forasterperson in a foreign land
  • forasteraperson in a foreign land
  • estrangerperson in a foreign land
  • estrangeraperson in a foreign land
  • foràperson in a foreign land
Chinese Cantonese 外國人 /外国人, 老外
  • 外國人 /外国人 (ngoi⁶ gwok³ jan⁴)person in a foreign land
  • 老外person in a foreign land
Chinese Mandarin 外國人 /外国人, 外人
  • 外國人 /外国人 (wàiguórén)person in a foreign land
  • 外人 (wàirén)person in a foreign land
  • 老外 (lǎowài)person in a foreign land
Czech cizinec, cizinka
  • cizinecperson in a foreign land
  • cizinkaperson in a foreign land
Danish udlænding
  • udlændingperson in a foreign land
Dutch buitenlander, buitenlandse
  • buitenlanderperson in a foreign land
  • buitenlandseperson in a foreign land
Esperanto fremdulo, fremdlandulo
  • fremduloperson in a foreign land
  • fremdlanduloperson in a foreign land
  • eksterlandanoperson in a foreign land
  • alilandanoperson in a foreign land
Estonian välismaalane
  • välismaalaneperson in a foreign land
Finnish ulkomaalainen
  • ulkomaalainenperson in a foreign land
French étranger, étrangère
  • étrangerperson in a foreign land
  • étrangèreperson in a foreign land
German Ausländer, Ausländerin
  • Ausländerperson in a foreign land
  • Ausländerinperson in a foreign land
Greek ξένος, ξένη
  • ξένος (xénos)person in a foreign land
  • ξένη (xéni)person in a foreign land
  • αλλοδαπός (allodapós)person in a foreign land
  • αλλοδαπή (allodapí)person in a foreign land
Hebrew זָר, זָרָה
  • זָר (zar)person in a foreign land
  • זָרָהperson in a foreign land
Hindi विदेशी, अन्यदेशीय
  • विदेशी (videśī)person in a foreign land
  • अन्यदेशीय (anyadeśīya)person in a foreign land
  • परदेशी (pardeśī)person in a foreign land
  • अजनबी (ajnabī)person in a foreign land
Hungarian külföldi, idegen
  • külföldiperson in a foreign land
  • idegenperson in a foreign land
Icelandic útlendingur
  • útlendingurperson in a foreign land
Indonesian orang asing
  • orang asingperson in a foreign land
Irish coimhthíoch, eachtrannach
  • coimhthíochperson in a foreign land
  • eachtrannachperson in a foreign land
Italian straniero, straniera
  • stranieroperson in a foreign land
  • stranieraperson in a foreign land
Japanese 外国人, 外人
  • 外国人 (gaikokujin)person in a foreign land
  • 外人 (gaijin)person in a foreign land
  • 異国人 (ikokujin)person in a foreign land
Korean 외국인, 이국인
  • 외국인 (oegugin)person in a foreign land
  • 이국인 (igugin)person in a foreign land
  • 외인 (oein)person in a foreign land
Latin barbarus, peregrīnus
  • barbarusperson in a foreign land
  • peregrīnusperson in a foreign land
  • extraneusperson in a foreign land
  • alienusperson in a foreign land
Latvian ārzemnieks, ārzemniece
  • ārzemnieksperson in a foreign land
  • ārzemnieceperson in a foreign land
Lithuanian užsienietis, užsienietė
  • užsienietisperson in a foreign land
  • užsienietėperson in a foreign land
  • svetimšalisperson in a foreign land
  • kitakilmisperson in a foreign land
Malay orang asing
  • orang asingperson in a foreign land
Māori tautangata
  • tautangataperson in a foreign land
Norwegian Bokmål utlending
  • utlendingperson in a foreign land
Polish cudzoziemiec, cudzoziemka
  • cudzoziemiecperson in a foreign land
  • cudzoziemkaperson in a foreign land
  • obcokrajowiecperson in a foreign land
Portuguese estrangeiro, estrangeira
  • estrangeiroperson in a foreign land
  • estrangeiraperson in a foreign land
Romanian străin, străină
  • străinperson in a foreign land
  • străinăperson in a foreign land
Russian иностра́нец, иностра́нка
  • иностра́нец (inostránec)person in a foreign land
  • иностра́нка (inostránka)person in a foreign land
  • чужезе́мец (čužezémec)person in a foreign land
  • чужезе́мка (čužezémka)person in a foreign land
  • инозе́мец (inozémec)person in a foreign land
  • инозе́мка (inozémka)person in a foreign land
  • чужестра́нец (čužestránec)person in a foreign land
  • чужестра́нка (čužestránka)person in a foreign land
Scottish Gaelic coimheach, coigreach
  • coimheachperson in a foreign land
  • coigreachperson in a foreign land
  • Gallperson in a foreign land
  • eilthireachperson in a foreign land
Slovak cudzinec, cudzinka
  • cudzinecperson in a foreign land
  • cudzinkaperson in a foreign land
Spanish extranjero, extranjera
  • extranjeroperson in a foreign land
  • extranjeraperson in a foreign land
  • forasteroperson in a foreign land
  • fuereñoperson in a foreign land
  • foráneoperson in a foreign land
  • afuereñoperson in a foreign land
  • afuerinoperson in a foreign land
  • extranjisperson in a foreign land
  • meteco (despective)person in a foreign land
Swahili ajinabi
  • ajinabiperson in a foreign land
Swedish utlänning
  • utlänningperson in a foreign land
Thai ฝรั่ง, ฮวน
  • ฝรั่ง (fà-ràng)person in a foreign land
  • ฮวน (huuan)person in a foreign land
  • ต่างชาติ (dtàang-châat)person in a foreign land
  • ต่างด้าว (dtàang-dâao)person in a foreign land
  • คนจรperson in a foreign land
Turkish yabancı, ecnebi
  • yabancıperson in a foreign land
  • ecnebiperson in a foreign land
  • çet elliperson in a foreign land
Ukrainian інозе́мець, інозе́мка
  • інозе́мець (inozémecʹ)person in a foreign land
  • інозе́мка (inozémka)person in a foreign land
  • чужозе́мець (čužozémecʹ)person in a foreign land
  • чужозе́мка (čužozémka)person in a foreign land
Urdu اَجْنَبی, پَرْدیسی
  • اَجْنَبی (ajnabī)person in a foreign land
  • پَرْدیسی (pardesī)person in a foreign land
  • بیگانَہ (begāna)person in a foreign land
Vietnamese người nước ngoài, người ngoại quốc
  • người nước ngoàiperson in a foreign land
  • người ngoại quốcperson in a foreign land
Welsh alltud
  • alltudperson in a foreign land
Yiddish אויסלענדער, אויסלענדערין
  • אויסלענדער (oyslender)person in a foreign land
  • אויסלענדערין (oyslenderin)person in a foreign land
Cite this entry
APA

foreigner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreigner

MLA

“foreigner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreigner. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foreigner,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreigner.

Source: foreigner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.