indigenous

English

WOTD – 4 October 2010

Etymology

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 endogenous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/
• enPR: ĭn-dĭj′ə-nəs, ĭn-dĭj′ĭ-nəs, IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɪdʒənəs/, /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪnəs, -ɪdʒənəs
• Hyphenation: in‧dig‧e‧nous

Adjective

indigenous (not comparable)

1. (chiefly of living things) Born or originating in, native to a land or region, especially before an intrusion. [from 17th c.]
   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, "Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree":

     Not only the Indian, but many indigenous insects, birds, and quadrupeds, welcomed the apple-tree to these shores.

   1. Of or relating to a people (or their language or culture) that inhabited a region prior to the arrival of people of other cultures which became dominant (e.g., through colonialism), and which maintains a distinct culture.
2. Innate, inborn. [from 19th c.]
   • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, ch. 18:

     She was a native and essential cook, as much as Aunt Chloe,—cooking being an indigenous talent of the African race.

   • 1883, George MacDonald, "Stephen Archer" in Stephen Archer and Other Tales:

     He had all the tricks of a newspaper boy indigenous in him.

Usage notes

• Some style guides recommend capitalizing Indigenous in reference to the racial/ethnic/cultural category. (Lowercase indigenous has historically been more common.) See also Indigenous peoples on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Synonyms

• (native): aboriginal, autochthonous, local; See also Thesaurus:native
• (innate, inborn): connatural, natural; See also Thesaurus:innate

Derived terms

Derived terms

• indigenity
• indigenously

• indigenousness
• nonindigenous

Translations

born or engendered in, native to a land or region

• Afrikaans: inheems (af)
• Bulgarian: местен (bg) (mesten), туземен (bg) (tuzemen)
• Catalan: indígena (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 在地的

• Dutch: inheems (nl), autochtoon (nl), oorspronkelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: indiĝena
• Estonian: pärismaine
• Finnish: alkuperäinen (fi)
• French: indigène (fr) m, aborigène (fr) m, autochtone (fr) m
• Galician: indíxena m or f
• German: indigen (de), einheimisch (de), eingeboren (de), inländisch (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: αὐτόχθων (autókhthōn)

• Hebrew: יְלִידִי (y'lidi)
• Icelandic: frumbyggja-, infæddur, innlendur
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: indigeno (it) m
• Latin: indiges, indigenus
• Maori: taketake
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stedegen, innfødt

• Occitan: indigèna (oc)
• Old English: inlendisc, inlende
• Persian: بومی (fa) (bumi)
• Polish: miejscowy (pl), macierzysty (pl) m
• Portuguese: indígena (pt), nativo (pt), aborígene (pt), aborígine
• Romanian: indigen (ro) m or n, autohton (ro) n
• Russian: коренно́й (ru) (korennój), абориге́нный (ru) (aborigénnyj), ме́стный (ru) (méstnyj), тузе́мный (ru) (tuzémnyj), автохто́нный (ru) (avtoxtónnyj) (literary)
• Serbo-Croatian: urođen (sh)
• Spanish: indígena (es), autóctono (es), nativo (es)

innate, inborn

• Bulgarian: вроден (bg) (vroden)
• Dutch: aangeboren (nl), ingeboren, overgeërfd (nl)
• Finnish: synnynnäinen (fi)
• French: inné (fr), congénital (fr)
• German: angeboren (de), intuitiv (de), eingeboren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: meðfæddur
• Italian: innato (it), congenito (it)
• Portuguese: nato (pt)
• Russian: врождённый (ru) (vroždjónnyj), прирождённый (ru) (priroždjónnyj), приро́дный (ru) (priródnyj)
• Spanish: innato (es), congénito (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} inheems (nl), ^{(please verify)} inlands (nl), ^{(please verify)} autochtoon (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

References

• “indigenous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• indigenous in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “indigenous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.