exotic English · revision 15049

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1599|origins=grc ἔξω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ɪɡˈzɒt.ɪk/, US /ɪɡˈzɑː.t̬ɪk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|exotique]] (1548, in Rabelais) and directly [[la|exōticus]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[grc|ἐξωτικός|tr=exōtikós|t=foreign, from outside]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from [[m|grc|ἔξω|tr=éxō|t=outside]] (see [[exo-]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Foreign, introduced from abroad: 1599, in Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense unusual or strange, from the notion of alien or outlandish, is first recorded in 1629.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The noun, an exotic plant, is from about 1645.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) The idea of foreign origin gave the word glamour,^(Cresswell 2021) and the American ''exotic dancer'', a striptease artist, is attested by 1942.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) Exotic fuels are from 1957,^(OED 1989) and exotica appeared in a book title in 1876.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1599 – foreign.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1629 – unusual, strange.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1645 – an exotic plant.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1876 – exotica.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1942 – exotic dancer (US).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # From another part of the world; foreign, not native: ''an exotic plant''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Strikingly unusual or strange; glamorous.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of or involving [[striptease]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(New Zealand)'' Of trees, native to the northern hemisphere but grown in New Zealand.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An exotic person or thing.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A striptease dancer.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[exotically]]

+ * [[exoticness]]

+ * [[nonexotic]]

+ * [[unexotic]]

+ * [[exoticism]]

+ * [[exotic dancer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[exotica]]

+ * [[exo-]]

+ * [[exoteric]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}