Exotic
late 16th century: via Latin from Greek exōtikos ‘foreign’, from exō ‘outside’.
wiktionary
Borrowed from Middle French exotique, from Latin exōticus, from Ancient Greek ἐξωτικός(exōtikós, “foreign”, literally “from the outside”), from ἐξω-(exō-, “outside”), from ἐξ(ex, “out of”).
etymonline
exotic (adj.)
1590s, "belonging to another country," from French exotique (16c.) and directly from Latin exoticus, from Greek exotikos "foreign," literally "from the outside," from exo "outside" (see exo-). Sense of "unusual, strange" in English first recorded 1620s, from notion of "alien, outlandish." In reference to strip-teasers and dancing girls, it is attested by 1942, American English.
Exotic dancer in the nightclub trade means a girl who goes through a few motions while wearing as few clothes as the cops will allow in the city where she is working ... [Life magazine, May 5, 1947]
As a noun from 1640s, "anything of foreign origin," originally plants.
