foreigner
for·eign·er/ˈfɔɹ.ɪ.nɚ/noun
foreigner is spelled F-O-R-E-I-G-N-E-R: 9 letters and 3 syllables (for·eign·er). It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, foreigner means “A person from a foreign country” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of foreigner is foreigners.
How many letters and syllables are in foreigner?
| Letters | 9: F-O-R-E-I-G-N-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: for·eign·er |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,368th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is foreigner?
Foreigner appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce foreigner?
- UK /ˈfɒɹ.ɪ.nə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈfɔɹ.ɪ.nɚ/
- US /ˈfɔɹ.ə.nɚ/
Foreigner has 3 syllables, split for·eign·er in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-foreigner.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of foreigner
- foreigners plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does foreigner mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person from a foreign country.
- 2
A private job run by an employee at a trade factory rather than going through the business.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Foreigner in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense person in a foreign land:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étranger, étrangère |
| German | Ausländer, Ausländerin |
| Portuguese | estrangeiro, estrangeira |
| Spanish | extranjero, extranjera, forastero, fuereño, foráneo, afuereño |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does foreigner come from?
From Middle English forner, foreyner, foroner, forenere, augmentation of earlier forein (“foreigner”), from the adjective. Equivalent to foreign + -er. Use of the -er suffix may be due to analogy with Middle English straunger (“stranger”). Displaced native Old English elþēodiġ.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).