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Glite Dictionary
🌍 Not from here 🗣️ Learner of language
nonnative

nonnative

4.8
A person who does not speak a language they learned first
  • noun
  • /ˈnɑːnˌneɪtɪv/
translation icon : no nativo
  • As a nonnative speaker of English, Maria often struggles with idioms and phrasal verbs.
  • nonnative and natives

Examples

  • Local schools provide extra support for nonnative students to help them improve their language skills.

  • If our role as nonnatives is not to save the Indians, then it must be to work alongside them.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Commercial fishing for many Alaskan fish species is limited to a fixed number of permit holders, most of whom are currently nonnatives.

    Academic text (1996)

  • There were (and are) very few native priests in North America, and thus ecclesial leadership ultimately rests almost entirely in the hands of nonnatives.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Many nonnatives find it challenging to adapt to the cultural nuances of their new country.

Antonyms

native speaker
5 3.3

A person who learned a language as a child and uses it as their main language

How Fluent

nonnative
4.8
lep
  • Formal
1 9.9

Surface Forms

nonnative singular
nonnatives plural

Morphology

nonnative = nonnative (transparent) = non + native

The noun is a conversion of the adjective 'nonnative', and the adjectival meaning is directly compositional from non- + native.

Etymology

The word nonnative combines non- 'not' and native 'first or born in', so a nonnative speaker is someone who did not learn the language as their first language and uses it later in life.