Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell foreign

Foreign is spelled F-O-R-E-I-G-N. It ends -EIGN, just like reign and sovereign: E, I, then the silent G.

hear itfor·eign/'fɔrɪn/adjectiveSilent and tricky

What it means: Coming from or belonging to another country.

In a sentence: My uncle brought me a foreign coin from his trip.

The part people get wrong

Watch for a silent g, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear, and the order of ei.

Same family: foreigner, foreigners, foreignness, foreign-language, foreign-policy. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Foreign” comes from a Latin word meaning “outside” or “out of doors” (foris). Over time, it came to mean something that comes from outside your own country or group.

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