Exotic
/ɪɡˈzɒt.ɪk/noun
Originating in or characteristic of a distant foreign country; strikingly unusual or different.
Did you know?The word comes through Latin from Greek exōtikos, built on exō, meaning “outside,” so its oldest sense is literally “belonging to the outside.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₁eǵʰs
“outside, beyond”
Ancient Greek
Greek
exō
“outside, on the outside”
Ancient Greek
Greek
exōtikos
“external, foreign, from outside”
Late Latin
Latin
exoticus
“foreign, strange, from outside”
16th Century
English
exotick
“foreign, imported from abroad”
Modern English
English
exotic
“strikingly foreign or unusual”