oversea

English

Etymology

From Middle English over-se, over see, ouer sea, from Old English ofer sǣ (literally “over/across (the) sea”); equivalent to over +‎ sea. Compare West Frisian oerseesk, Dutch overzee, German Übersee, Danish oversøisk.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/, [ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː]

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsi/, [ˌoʊ̯.vɚˈsi]
• (New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌɐʉ.vəˈsiː/, [ˌɐʉ̯.vɐˈsiː]
• Hyphenation: over‧sea
• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: oversee

Adjective

oversea (not comparable)

1. (chiefly British) Alternative form of overseas
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

     It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.

Adverb

oversea (not comparable)

1. (chiefly British) Alternative form of overseas

Derived terms

• overseas

References

• “oversea”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.