Etymograph

English

foreign

Foreign comes from Old French forain, from Vulgar Latin *forānus ‘outsider’, possibly from Latin forās ‘outside’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwer-1‘door, gate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forā1‘door’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fora1‘door’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEforās1‘outside’uncertain
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*forānus1‘outsider’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400forain1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500foreyn1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613foreign1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English foreign
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰwer-Wiktionary, English foreign‘door, gate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forāWiktionary, English foreign‘door’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*foraWiktionary, English foreign‘door’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEforāsWiktionary, English foreign‘outside’uncertain
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*forānusWiktionary, English foreign‘outsider’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400forainWiktionary, English foreign
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500foreynWiktionary, English foreign
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613foreignWiktionary, English foreign. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Kept him a foreign man still; which so grieved…”

The story

The silent -g- added perhaps by analogy with reign (compare also sovereign which was similarly altered).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- ‘door’

door, thyroid, 6 more

Today it means

adj Located outside a country or place, especially one's own.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “foreign”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- / foreign

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