indigenous
in·di·ge·nous
adjective
1.
originating where it is found
- “the autochthonal fauna of Australia includes the kangaroo”
- “autochthonous rocks and people and folktales”
- “endemic folkways”
- “the Ainu are indigenous to the northernmost islands of Japan”
Origin
Borrowed from Late Latin indigenus (“native, born in a country”), from indi- (indu-), an old derivative of in (“in”), gen- the root of gignō (“give birth to”), and English -ous. Compare indigene, Ancient Greek ἐνδογενής (endogenḗs, “born in the house”), and the separately formed piecewise doublet endogenous. Unrelated to Indian.
Phrases
- indigenous medicine
- Indigenous Peoples' Day
Related words
Word family
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.