proper noun
orient
East Asia or its cultures in historical European usage.
The historian explains how European writers once imagined the Orient.
Etymology
Latin oriens means rising, referring to the rising sun. Orient consequently named the east and, in European usage, regions of Asia lying eastward.
More examples
- The old travelogue calls China and Japan part of the Orient.
- European paintings of the Orient often present an idealized East Asia.
- The exhibit examines European stereotypes of the Orient.
Similar words
- East Asia
- A neutral modern geographic term without the historical European framing.