foreign

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 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).

adj

1. Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.
   foreign markets; foreign soil
   He liked visiting foreign cities.
2. 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
   The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked. 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Ayrsham Mystery
   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. 2013-08-24, “Guardian warriors and golden eggs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850
   There are many more foreign students in Europe since the Erasmus scheme started.
3. Relating to a different nation.
   foreign policy; foreign navies
4. Not characteristic of or naturally taken in by an organism or system.
   foreign body;foreign substance;foreign gene;foreign species
5. (with to, formerly with from) Alien; strange.
   It was completely foreign to their way of thinking.
   Only when one has seen a Control Office at first-hand does one realise the vast amount of unsparing but largely unsung work that is behind the eventual publication, perhaps, of a paragraph in this journal's "Motive Power Miscellany" recording the appearance, within hours of the complete blockage of a main line, of many of its trains, passenger and freight, on routes quite foreign to them; and of effective emergency services either side of the disaster area. 1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 133
6. (obsolete) Held at a distance; excluded; exiled.
7. (US, state law) From a different one of the states of the United States, as of a state of residence or incorporation.
8. Belonging to a different organization, company etc.
   My bank charges me $2.50 every time I use a foreign ATM.
9. (obsolete) Outside, outdoors, outdoor.

noun

1. A foreign person
   1. (now informal) A foreigner: a person from another country.
      The messaging instructions come in two sets: one for domestics, another for the foreigns. August 30 2011, “White House Extremely Worried About People Saying Dumb Stuff on 9/11”, in Gawker
   2. (obsolete) An outsider: a person from another place or group.
   3. (obsolete) A non-guildmember.
2. A foreign vehicle
   1. (obsolete) A foreign ship.
   2. (slang) A foreign whip, a car produced abroad.
      In the foreign switching lanes and we riding […] A island I wanna live somewhere silent I'm shining I'm bout to flood my neck with diamonds Yeah I've been spitting facts these niggas lying I'm driving stolens, foreigns, yeah I'm riding 2019-08-28, Yb Tak30ver (lyrics and music), “Island”, 1:16
3. (obsolete) An outhouse; an outdoor toilet.
   Ful foule ys þat forreyne 1303, Richard Mannyng, Handlyng Synne, l. 7436 f
4. A foreign area
   1. (now dialect) An area of a community that lies outside the legal town or parish limits.
   2. (obsolete, usually in the plural) An area of a monastery outside its legal limits or serving as an outer court.
5. Short for various phrases, including foreign language, foreign parts, and foreign service.