English Explanatory Dictionary

native

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Belonging to one by birth.
  2. Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from prehistoric times.
  3. Alternative letter-case form of Native (of or relating to the native inhabitants of the Americas, or of Australia).
  4. Born or grown in the region in which it lives or is found; not foreign or imported.
  5. Which occurs of its own accord in a given locality, to be contrasted with a species introduced by humans.
  6. Pertaining to the system or architecture in question.
  7. Occurring naturally in its pure or uncombined form.
  8. Arising by birth; having an origin; born.
  9. Original; constituting the original substance of anything.
  10. Naturally related; cognate; connected (with).
noun
  1. A person who is native to a place; a person who was born in a place.
  2. A person of aboriginal descent, as distinguished from a person who was or whose ancestors were foreigners or settlers/colonizers. Alternative letter-case form of Native (aboriginal inhabitant of the Americas or Australia).
  3. A native speaker.
  4. A native plant or animal.
  5. An oyster of species Ostrea edulis.
adj
  1. Aboriginal to a colonized region, especially one colonized by English-speaking people. (Compare native, which is more general.)
  2. Indian: Native American or First Nation; of or relating to (North) American Indians.
  3. Aboriginal; of or relating to Australian Aboriginal peoples, Aborigines.
  4. Related to black Africans, especially Bantu.
noun
  1. An aboriginal inhabitant of a colonized region, especially one colonized by English-speaking people. (Compare native, which is more general.)
  2. A Native American.
  3. An Aborigine.
  4. A black African, especially a Bantu.

Pronunciation

/ˈneɪtɪv/ /ˈneɪtəv/ en-us-native.ogg en-au-Native.ogg

Word forms

native more native most native natiue natyf natives

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English natif, from Old French natif, from Latin nātīvus, from nātus (“birth”). Doublet of naive and neif. Displaced native Middle English thedisch, equivalent to (puristic) theed + -ish. By surface analysis, Latin nat- + -ive. Compare also inborn.

Synonyms

innate autochthonous indigenous autochthonal endemic inlandish native inborn aboriginal homeling

Antonyms

foreign naturalized fremd allochthonous exotic

Related words

ancient first local natural primitive native cat nativisation nativity nativization

Derived words

AI-native cloud-native go native nativar native advertising native bear native-born native bread native bundle native code native companion native daughter native devil native fuchsia native gardenia native ground native heath nativehen native land native language native-language identification native-like nativelike natively native millet native monkey native myrtle nativeness native resolution native signer native soil native son native speaker native-speaker native-speakerism native-speaking native species native steel native support native tiger native title native tobacco native tongue native wit nativism nativist nativize near-native non-native nonnative non-native-speaker non-native speaker seminative unnative digital native the natives are restless
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