exotic

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French exotique, from Latin exōticus, from Ancient Greek ἐξωτικός (exōtikós, “foreign”, literally “from the outside”), from ἐξω- (exō-, “outside”), from ἐξ (ex, “out of”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzɒtɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈzɑtɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒtɪk

Adjective

exotic (comparative more exotic, superlative most exotic)

1. Foreign, especially in an exciting way.

   an exotic appearance

   • 1682 December 4 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, , 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, ; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, , published 1819, →OCLC:

     Nothing was so splendid and exotic as the ambassador.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

   1. Non-native to the ecosystem.
   2. extraterrestial, alien

      exotic materials

2. (finance) Being or relating to an option with features that make it more complex than commonly traded options.
3. (gambling) Being or relating to various wagers, such as the trifecta, that involve betting on the finishing positions of multiple competitors across one or more races.

Derived terms

Related terms

• exotica

Translations

Noun

exotic (plural exotics)

1. (biology) An organism that is exotic to an environment.
   • c. 1948, George Orwell, Such, Such Were the Joys:

     There were a few exotics among them — some South American boys, sons of Argentine beef barons, one or two Russians, and even a Siamese prince, or someone who was described as a prince.

2. An exotic dancer; a stripteaser.
3. (physics) Any exotic particle.

   Glueballs, theoretical particles composed only of gluons, are exotics.

Derived terms

• invasive exotic

Translations

Further reading

• Exotic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Exotic in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• coxite, excito-

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin exōticus.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn)

  (file)

Adjective

exotic m (feminine singular exotica, masculine plural exotics, feminine plural exoticas)

1. exotic

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French exotique, from Latin exoticus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɡˈzo.tik/

Adjective

exotic m or n (feminine singular exotică, masculine plural exotici, feminine and neuter plural exotice)

1. exotic

Declension