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The Orient is a term which simply means the "east". It originated in Western Asia to describe that part of the world. It is now used in the Western world to describe Eastern Asia. To describe a person as Oriental is considered to be impolite and politically incorrect by some in the United States; the term Asian is now widely used. In the United States Oriental refers to objects and material good such as rugs and teapots. However, the term Oriental does not carry any such connotations in the United Kingdom, where the word Asian commonly refers to people of Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Sri Lankan descent. (These people are called South Asians in the United States.) The term "Orient" is derived from the Latin word oriens meaning "east" (lit. "rising" < orior "rise"). The use of the word for "rising" to refer to the east (where the sun rises) has analogs from many languages compare the terms "Levant" (< French levant "rising"), "Anatolia" (< Greek anatole), "mizrahi" in Hebrew ("zriha" meaning sunrise), "sharq" Arabic ???? (< Arabic yashroq Arabic ????? "rise", shrooq Arabic ????? "rising") and "The Land of the Rising Sun" to refer to Japan. The opposite term "Occident" is derived from the Latin word occidens meaning "west" (lit. "setting" < "occido" "fall/set"). This term was once used to describe the West (where the sun sets) but is falling into disuse.
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