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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

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oriental Oriental orientals

The oriental fruit fly is widespread throughout much of the mainland of southern Asia and neighboring islands, including Sri Lanka and Taiwan, and it has invaded other areas, most notably Africa and Hawaii.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024

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

Besides new walnut furniture and flat-screen TVs, rooms boast luxury linens, oriental carpets, chaise lounges, retro mini refrigerators, custom wardrobes and upscale bathrooms.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 20, 2021

The store was called A-Z, and its dusty show windows were crammed with a weird clutter of old and exotic-looking objects—huge bronze oriental vases next to some beat-up old pots and pans.

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

When the Mandarin Oriental recruited Delpique away in 2024, he brought Haugstatter with him and recruited Jaka Akbary, his head banquet chef who spent 13 years with the Rosewood Group.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 13, 2025

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

"All eyes are on this case," says Prof Stephen Chan from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025

When Lim began looking for locations, he walked into Oriental Silk on Beverly Boulevard, a silk fabric store that had been on the block since the 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025

Some chatted with neighbors, some looked up at the gilt ceiling, some studied the pattern of the 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

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

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

In pigeons alone there are carriers, pouters, tumblers, baldheads, beards, dragoons, barbs, jacobins, Antwerps, turbits, owls, orientals, damoscenes, capuchins, fantails, trumpeters, swifts, Lahores, Burmese, Scandaroons, magpies, nuns, Archangels, runts and so on.

From Outdoor Sports and Games by Claude H. Miller

S. orientals is grown in the West Indies under the name of "wangle."

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