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• oriental
  oriental

  adjective

  Usually Oriental
• Oriental
  Oriental

  adjective

  (sometimes not capital) of or relating to the Orient

oriental

American  

[awr-ee-en-tl] / ˌɔr iˈɛn tl /

adjective

1. Usually Oriental

   1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Orient or the East, typically East Asia; Eastern.

      The living room had a gorgeous Oriental rug.

      In the late 1950s, the university began offering degrees in Oriental philosophy.

   2. Older Use: Often Disparaging and Offensive. (of a person or group of people) being from the East, typically East Asia; Asian.

2. of the orient, or the eastern region of the world or heavens: stars in the oriental sky.

   oriental countries;

   stars in the oriental sky.

3. Zoogeography. Oriental, belonging to a geographical division comprising southern Asia and the Malay Archipelago as far as and including the Philippines, Borneo, and Java.

   This genera has twelve Oriental species, and two Australian ones.

4. Jewelry. Also Oriental

   1. designating various gems that are varieties of corundum.

      oriental aquamarine;

      oriental ruby.

   2. fine or precious; orient.

      oriental agate;

      oriental garnet.

   3. designating certain natural saltwater pearls found especially in Asia.

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noun

• orientals
  plural

1. Older Use: Usually Disparaging and Offensive. Usually Oriental a native or inhabitant of the Orient, or East.

Oriental ¹ British  

/ ˌɔːrɪˈɛntəl /

adjective

1. (sometimes not capital) of or relating to the Orient

2. of or denoting a zoogeographical region consisting of southeastern Asia from India to Borneo, Java, and the Philippines

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noun

1. a breed of slender muscular cat with large ears, long legs, and a long tail

2. (sometimes not capital) an inhabitant, esp a native, of the Orient

oriental ² British  

/ ˌɔːrɪˈɛntəl /

adjective

1. another word for eastern Compare occidental

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Sensitive Note

Is it Asian, Asiatic, or Oriental? See Asian.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anti-Oriental
  adjective
• half-oriental
  adjective
• nonoriental
  adjective
• pseudooriental
  adjective
• quasi-oriental
  adjective
• semioriental
  adjective
• unoriental
  adjective
• orientally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• orientals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of oriental

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin orientālis, from orient-, stem of oriēns “the east, sunrise,” literally, “rising” + -ālis, adjective suffix; equivalent to orient + -al ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oriental Oriental orientals

Residents living in the quarantine zones can help prevent the spread of the oriental fruit flies by not moving those crops from their property.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024

Described as "a love drama", the 63-minute film was directed by British filmmaker JL Freer Hunt and boasted that it "featured actual royal palaces and scenes of oriental splendour".

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2023

The pollen grains of various common plants like sunflower, morning glories, prairie hollyhock, oriental lily, evening primrose and castor bean — magnified 500 times and colorized in this image — display intricate patterns.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2022

Inside the city’s mesmerizing acropolis, French-Iranian oriental dancer Rana Gorgani twirled to Ghraichy’s piano playing.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2022

It was startling and I watched the surge and flutter of the birds as their colors flared for an instant like an unfurled oriental fan.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

“It’s very hard for people to accept that the Oriental carpet they bought now will have only $100 or $200 worth of value,” she said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

One particularly active fake profile used the name "Kevin Zhang", claiming to be the head of a fictitious Hong Kong-based firm called "Oriental Consulting", the security source told AFP.

From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026

According to a short biography he apparently sent to Epstein, he studied Law and Chinese Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026

In the middle of the bustling holiday season at New York’s five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel, Executive Chef Sylvain Delpique was overseeing a 725-person party with 1,500 sliders and 33 briskets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 13, 2025

Turtle had seen the corpse in the Westing house, but it was not rotting and it was not sprawled on an Oriental rug.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

In fact, the ebb and flow of florals and orientals is part of a dialectic over 400 years old.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2021

Secrecy surpassed itself when the League Secretariat officially announced that Chinese Delegate Dr. Sze and Japanese Delegate Mr. Yoshizawa had agreed to a "truce"'-whereupon both orientals denied the official announcement.

From Time Magazine Archive

True pearls, or "orientals," are formed in oysters by the deposition of concentric layers of nacre, an iridescent substance, around a microbe or some other irritant.

From Time Magazine Archive

S. indicum bears a pale purple flower, and S. orientals has a white blossom.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

There was a Jewish asceticism—similar to what is found frequently among orientals, and was practised in Europe among the Pythagoreans—which required men to abstain from animal food altogether and from wine.

From St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. II A Practical Exposition by Charles Gore

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