Outlanders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who come from outside a specific area or community, often seen as foreign or unfamiliar
2. people who reside in a region but have origins elsewhere, creating a sense of otherness
3. entities or groups that differ culturally or socially from the local population, thus often experiencing a degree of separation or distinction

Etymology: "Outlanders" is simply the plural of "outlander," a noun for people from somewhere else. The singular is built from "outland," meaning a foreign or distant land, plus the agent suffix "-er," so the word is a plain formation from English materials rather than a borrowing. The more interesting part is the pressure from abroad. The word is a calque of Dutch "uitlander" (and its Afrikaans form), which carries the same sense of "one from outside," and it stands in a doublet relationship with that Dutch word, meaning the two descend from a common source and developed separately. German "Ausländer," Swedish "utlänning," and Danish "udlænding" are cognates built on the same idea of being from outside the land. In certain uses, then, English speakers were borrowing a concept their continental neighbours had already expressed, reshaping it in familiar English parts. The result is a word that sounds like it was always English, even though its usage was shaped by Dutch and its relatives.

Synonyms: foreigners, strangers, outsiders, aliens, non-natives

Antonyms: natives, locals, insiders, citizens, inhabitants