Link Centre Dictionary

Orientalism

orien·ta·lism

uncommon

noun

1.

the scholarly knowledge of Asian cultures and languages and people

Synonyms
2.

the quality or customs or mannerisms characteristic of Asian civilizations

  • “orientalisms can be found in Mozart”

Origin

From French orientalisme, from oriental (“eastern, Oriental”). In the sense “patronizing Western attitude” popularized by Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism. Equivalent to Oriental + -ism.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.