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indigenous

indigenous

104 5.6
Living or growing naturally in a place and not moved there from somewhere else
  • adjective
  • /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/
translation icon : indígena
  • By reading Indigenous literature, settlers come to understand Indigenous people as fellow human beings.
  • indigenous people
  • indigenous rights
  • indigenous communities

So there there's plenty of indigenous use of these compounds.

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Examples

  • The new policy aims to support indigenous artists and their unique cultural expressions.

  • Native title is the right of indigenous peoples to their traditional lands, waters, and territories.

    Academic text (2011)
  • So I work a lot with Indigenous groups in Canada when they asked me to.

  • I think it must be an ancient Indigenous saying.

  • Given the nature of our indigenous population, I would suggest clothes.

  • It follows a family who are indigenous to Canada.

  • In Guatemala, the office there train the indigenous women to fight their own battles.

  • But they had become the defenders of the indigenous population by around the 1530s.

    Academic text (2011)
  • He's a smart boy and he expressed a keen interest in the history of the island's indigenous peoples.

  • The arrival of Europeans ended the seminomadic indigenous lifestyle that had been in place for generations.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

endemic
vsindigenous
27 7.2

Found regularly in a particular place or group of people

is about originating or occurring naturally, not just regular presence
aboriginal
vsindigenous
24 6.5

Of the first people or things living in a region

is broader, applying to origins not only those from the earliest times
autochthonous
vsindigenous
  • Formal
1 9.9

Formed naturally in the place where it is found and not moved from elsewhere

is an alternative word form with the same meaning in context
autochthonal
vsindigenous
  • Specialized
9.9

Living naturally in the place where it is found

is an alternative word form with the same meaning in context
autochthonic
vsindigenous
  • Formal
9.9

Native to the place where it is found

is an alternative word form with the same meaning in context

Antonyms

481 3.4

From another country or language and not familiar here

Compounds

A language spoken by the first people of a place

How Native

autochthonous
  • Formal
1 9.9
indigenous
104 5.6
established
  • Specialized
5.8
naturalized
  • Specialized
1 5.9
foreign
481 3.4

Surface Forms

indigenous positive

Morphology

indigenous = indigene (opaque) = indigene + ous

Although formally analyzable as 'indigene' + '-ous', the base 'indigene' is rare and the root is not a productive English morpheme, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning.

Etymology

Indigenous comes from two parts: in- 'in' and gignere 'to be born'. So it literally means 'born in' a place, which is why we use it for people, plants, or animals that are native to a region.