foreignness

English

Etymology

From foreign +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹən.nəs/

Noun

foreignness (countable and uncountable, plural foreignnesses)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being, appearing, or being perceived as foreign; exoticness, otherness.
   • 2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 165:

     The same courteous, automatic greeting […] which by now I understood as a nod to my foreignness, which was obvious to everyone everywhere.

   • 2019 January 30, Naty, “Dear gringos, the Portuguese word “Saudade” doesn’t mean what you make it sound like”, in Naty's Bookshelf‎:

     The word “saudade” is being quite misused for what looks like to be a need for adding romantic foreignness to a story or an article.

2. (countable) A characteristic that indicates foreignness.

Translations

quality of being, appearing, or being perceived as foreign

Chinese: Mandarin: 外國特色 / 外国特色 (wàiguó tèsè), 外來性 / 外来性 (wàiláixìng), 異物性 / 异物性 (yìwùxìng) Czech: cizost (cs) f Danish: please add this translation if you can Finnish: vieraus (fi), vierasmaalaisuus French: extranéité (fr) f German: Fremdheit (de) f Greek: ξενικότητα (el) f (xenikótita) Portuguese: estrangeirismo (pt) m Russian: чу́ждость (ru) f (čúždostʹ) Spanish: ajenidad (es) f

Anagrams

• foresensing