Abroad
/əˈbrɔːd/noun
In or to a foreign country or countries; away from home.
Did you know?The word comes from the old sense of **broad** meaning “wide” or “widely spread,” so **abroad** originally meant “on or to a wide area,” not specifically “outside one’s country.”
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
on brǣde
“on a broad scale; widely, over a wide area”
Middle English
ME
abrood / abrod
“widely, in a scattered or spread-out way”
14th Century
English
abrode
“out in the open; away from home; widely”
16th Century
English
abroad
“away from home, into the open, or widely dispersed”
Modern English
English
abroad
“in or to a foreign country or countries”