orientalist

O1R1I1E1N1T1A1L1I1S1T1
US/ˌɔɹiˈɛntəlɪst/

adjective

Of the West, to take in aspects of the East; pertaining to the representational tendency orientalism.

UncommonScrabble 11

Meanings

orientalist1

adjectiveorientalist (comparative more orientalist, superlative most orientalist)

comparative more orientalist · superlative most orientalist · alternative Orientalist

  1. datedarchitectureOf the West, to take in aspects of the East; pertaining to the representational tendency orientalism.
nounorientalist (plural orientalists)

plural orientalists · alternative Orientalist

  1. datedarchitectureA scholar who studies the Orient; a person interested in the Orient.

    If, however, Orientalists be right in their interpretation of the name of Artaxerxes' queen, Parisatis, as Pari-zadeh (Peri-born), the Peri must be coeval with the religion of Zoroaster.

    1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 27
    3 more examples

    1684, George Bright, preface to The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D. Which is rendred somewhat more probable by that very learned Orientalist Dr. Pocok, who tells us the Arabick verb Hausch answering to the Hebrew חיש signifies three things, viz. to hast, to fear, to be ashamed.

    Moreover, among the group that was associated with the short-lived Institut historique, of which Senancour was a member from 1834 to 1840, was Eugène Burnouf, the great orientalist, to whom much of the responsibility for the revived interest in orientalism of the mid-nineteenth century must be attributed.

    1935, Iris Esther Robertson Sells, Matthew Arnold and France, London: Cambridge University Press, page 67

    The splendid nineteenth-century Oxford Orientalist David Margoliouth (described by Irwin as having “the kind of beautiful mind that could see patterns where none existed”) was perhaps not so eccentric when he claimed to notice analogies “between the founder of Islam and Brigham Young, the founder of the Mormon faith.”

    2007 March 28, Christopher Hitchens, “East is East”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN

Orientalist2

nounOrientalist (plural Orientalists)

plural Orientalists

  1. Alternative letter-case form of orientalist.

Origin

Translations

Arabic مُسْتَشْرِق
  • مُسْتَشْرِق (mustašriq)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Catalan orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Czech orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Danish orientalist
  • orientalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Finnish orientalisti
  • orientalistia person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
French orientaliste
  • orientalistea person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
German Orientalist, Orientalistin
  • Orientalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • Orientalistina person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Hindi प्राच्यविद्, प्राच्यविद्याविद्
  • प्राच्यविद् (prācyavid)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • प्राच्यविद्याविद् (prācyavidyāvid)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • प्राच्यवेत्ता (prācyavettā)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Hungarian orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Italian orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Norwegian Bokmål orientalist
  • orientalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Persian شرقشناس
  • شرقشناس (šarq-šenâs)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Portuguese orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Romanian orientalist
  • orientalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Russian востокове́д, восто́чник
  • востокове́д (vostokovéd)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • восто́чник (vostóčnik)a person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Spanish orientalista
  • orientalistaa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Swedish orientalist
  • orientalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
Turkish oryantalist, şarkiyatçı
  • oryantalista person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • şarkiyatçıa person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient
  • doğubilimcia person (especially a scholar) interested in the Orient

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

orientalist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orientalist

MLA

“orientalist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orientalist. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “orientalist,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orientalist.

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