oriental
adjective of, from, or characteristic of the Far East. noun often offensive a person of Far Eastern descent. DERIVATIVES orientalism noun orientalist noun orientalize (also orientalise) verb orientally adverb. USAGE The term oriental is now regarded as old-fashioned and potentially offensive as a term denoting people from the Far East. In US English, Asian is the standard accepted term in modern use; in British English, where Asian tends to denote people from the Indian subcontinent, specific terms such as Chinese or Japanese are more likely to be used.
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