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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

Zaref Atool is a dark, heavy fragrance - very much what people expect from an oriental style.

From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024

The goal is to keep the oriental fruit fly from spreading to more crops while working to eliminate the pest.

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

He saw a receding wash of gray and blue fading in a haze toward the setting sun, like something oriental on a dinner plate.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Nash Paragas, a rescuer in the eastern province of Davao Oriental, told AFP there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 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

"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

There was a wrinkled Oriental rug bunched up on the corner of the table in front of him, and his left hand rested on what appeared to be a book.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

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

Among the guests was an Indian Nabob dressed in all his orientals, who in himself would have been sufficient attraction for a whole evening, had he not been totally eclipsed by the three great artists.

From In the Courts of Memory, 1858 1875; from Contemporary Letters by Hegermann-Lindencrone, L. de (Lillie de)

It is much like "watching with a corpse," a ceremony derived, I believe, from the orientals, and still prevalent in good old New England.

From An Old Sailor's Yarns by Ames, N. (Nathaniel)