外がい国こく

が

い

こ

く

Common wordJLPTN5Freq.FrequencyTop 2,000

Meanings

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

General term for any country other than one's own; often used attributively with の to mean 'foreign' or 'international'.

外がい国こくに住すむto live in a foreign country
彼かれは十じゅう年ねん間かん、外がい国こくに住すんでいる。
He has been living abroad for ten years.
外がい国こくへ行いくto go abroad
来らい年ねん、初はじめて外がい国こくへ行いく予よ定ていです。
I plan to go abroad for the first time next year.
外がい国こくから来くるto come from a foreign country
彼かの女じょは外がい国こくから来きた留りゅう学がく生せいだ。
She is an exchange student who came from a foreign country.
外がい国こくの〈物もの〉a foreign ~ (attributive use meaning 'foreign')
外がい国こくの映えい画がが好すきです。
I like foreign movies.

海かい外がいN4
海外 emphasizes 'overseas' as a destination or general area beyond one's own country, while 外国 refers more directly to a specific foreign country.
異い国こくN1
異国 has a literary, exotic flavor suggesting a distant unfamiliar land, whereas 外国 is the plain, everyday word for any foreign country.
他た国こく
他国 stresses 'a country other than one's own' in a neutral or political sense, while 外国 is the general everyday term for any foreign country.
国こく外がいN1
外国 refers to a specific foreign country as a place, whereas 国外 refers more abstractly to the general area outside one's own country's borders.

自じ国こくN1
自国 means 'one's own country', the direct opposite of 外国 'a foreign country'.
本ほん国ごくN1
外国 means 'foreign country', the direct opposite of 本国's sense of one's own home country.
母ぼ国こくN1
外国 means 'a foreign country', the direct opposite of 母国, one's own home country.

カ国こく
外国 is counted with カ国 when referring to the number of countries, e.g. 三カ国 'three countries'.

Show 5 more

外国Usage100%
- がいこく
  Standard kanji spelling; the most common written form.
- そとぐに
  out-dated reading
そとぐに
out-dated reading

Compound of 外 (outside) and 国 (country). The reading がいこく is the standard Sino-Japanese on'yomi.