'foreignize' originates from English, formed from the adjective 'foreign' + the verb-forming suffix '-ize' (ultimately from Greek/Latin), where 'foreign' meant 'of another country' and '-ize' meant 'to make or to render'.

'foreign' changed from Middle English 'forain' (or 'forayne'), borrowed from Old French 'forain', which in turn comes from Latin 'foraneus' meaning 'out of doors' or 'outside (the house/region)'; the verb 'foreignize' developed later in Modern English by adding '-ize' to 'foreign'.

Initially 'foreign' meant 'belonging to another place or outside', and over time the derived verb came to mean 'to make something foreign or unfamiliar' (to render it like something from another country or to introduce foreign characteristics).