Where does “foreigner” come from?
Foreigner comes from Middle English forner, formed from Old French -er suffix attached to a root derived from Latin -arius and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰwer-, meaning door or threshold, originally denoting one from outside the threshold.
foreigner (English): A person from a foreign country; A private job...
Definitions
- A person from a foreign country; A private job...
Ancestry of “foreigner”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | forner | Alternative form of foreyner |
| 2 | Middle English | forein | Alternative form of foreyn |
| 3 | Old French | forain | — |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | foranus | outsider, outlander |
| 5 | Latin | forās | outside, outdoors (destination) |
| 6 | Latin | -ās | Used to form gentilic adjectives with the meaning "of/from" a country or place |
| 7 | Latin | -ātis | first conjugation |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 12 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |