Advertisement
exotic (adj.)
1590s, "belonging to another country," from French exotique (16c.) and directly from Latin exoticus, from Greek exotikos "foreign," literally "from the outside," from exo "outside" (see exo-). Sense of "unusual, strange" in English first recorded 1620s, from notion of "alien, outlandish." In reference to strip-teasers and dancing girls, it is attested by 1942, American English.
Exotic dancer in the nightclub trade means a girl who goes through a few motions while wearing as few clothes as the cops will allow in the city where she is working ... [Life magazine, May 5, 1947]
As a noun from 1640s, "anything of foreign origin," originally plants.
updated on December 08, 2020
Advertisement
Advertisement
Dictionary entries near exotic
exorcism
exorcist
exoskeleton
exoteric
exothermic
exotic
exoticism
expand
expanse
expansion
expansionist