native definition

English native definition

Etymology

From Middle English natif, from Old French natif, from Latin nātīvus, from nātus (“birth”). Doublet of naive and neif.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪtɪv/
• (US)
  • (General American, weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪtəv/
  • IPA^(key): /ˈneɪtɪv/ ^help
• Rhymes: -eɪtɪv
• Hyphenation: na‧tive

Adjective

native (comparative more native, superlative most native)

1. Belonging to one by birth.

   This is my native land.

   English is not my native language.

   I need a volunteer native New Yorker for my next joke…

2. Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from prehistoric times.

   What are now called ‘Native Americans’ used to be called Indians.

   The native peoples of Australia are called aborigines.

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.

   a native inhabitant

   native oysters or strawberries

   Many native artists studied abroad.

5. (biology, of a species) Which occurs of its own accord in a given locality, to be contrasted with a species introduced by humans.

   The naturalized Norway maple often outcompetes the native North American sugar maple.

6. (computing, of software) Pertaining to the system or architecture in question.

   This is a native back-end to gather the latest news feeds.

   The native integer size is sixteen bits.

   cloud native, crypto native

7. (mineralogy) Occurring naturally in its pure or uncombined form.

   native aluminium, native salt

8. Arising by birth; having an origin; born.

   1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC:

   Anaximander's opinion is, that the gods are native, rising and vanishing again in long periods of times.

9. Original; constituting the original substance of anything.

   native dust

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Must I thus leave thee Paradise? thus leave Thee Native Soile, these happie Walks and Shades,
     Fit haunt of Gods?

10. Naturally related; cognate; connected (with).
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

      The head is not more native to the heart, […]
      Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father.

Synonyms

• (belonging to one by birth): inborn, innate; See also Thesaurus:innate
• (born or grown in the region in which it is found): aboriginal, autochthonous, indigenous; See also Thesaurus:native

Antonyms

• (born or grown in the region in which it is found): foreign, fremd; See also Thesaurus:foreign

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

native (plural natives)

1. A person who is native to a place; a person who was born in a place.
2. (in particular) 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).
   • 1940 December, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 640:

     Mail trains are limited to first and second class passengers, but on the mixed trains third class is also provided, and this is patronised exclusively by natives.

   • 2009, Alex M. Cameron, Power without Law: The Supreme Court of Canada, the Marshall Decisions and the Failure of Judicial Activism, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, →ISBN:

     Dr John Reid, a historian called to testify for Mr Marshall, distinguished between the fur trade at the truckhouses and a smaller scale trade between natives and settlers: "It seems that there were native persons who were selling small amounts […] "

   • 2013, James Ciment, Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It, Hill and Wang, →ISBN, page 72:

     As for the wars between natives and settlers, far from having “ceased,” they would continue well into the twentieth century, and over much the same things that had always sparked them—trade, land, and settler arrogance.

3. A native speaker.
4. Ostrea edulis, a kind of oyster.

Usage notes

• In North America, native/Native came into use as an umbrella term for the indigenous inhabitants of America as Indian began to fall out of formal usage (because it originated from Columbus's mistaken belief that he was in India and the people he encountered were Indians). Other designations include Native American, Native Canadian, and American Indian. In Canada, the terms include Inuit and Metis and the adjectives First Nation/First Nations.

Synonyms

• homeling (uncommon, obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• native cat
• nativity
• nativization

References

• “native”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• native in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "native" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 215.
• “native”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French native definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.tiv/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: natives

Adjective

native

1. feminine singular of natif

Anagrams

• enviât, vanité, veinât, venait

Italian native definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: na‧tì‧ve

Adjective

native

1. feminine plural of nativo

Noun

native f pl

1. plural of nativa

Anagrams

• Aventi, aventi, avinte, evinta, nevati, vanite, venati, viante, vinate

Latin native definition

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /naːˈtiː.u̯e/, [näːˈt̪iːu̯ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /naˈti.ve/, [näˈt̪iːve]

Adjective

nātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of nātīvus

Romanian native definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [naˈti.ve]

Adjective

native

1. feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of nativ