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native

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Native

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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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…
    • 1509, Stephen Hawes, The Pastime of Pleasure: An Allegorical Poem (Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages; vol. XVIII.), reprinted from the edition of 1555, London: Percy Society, published 1846, cap. xxiv. “Of the five internall wittes.”, stanza 14, lines 1–5, page 111:
      In my natyf language I wyl not opres, / More of her werke, for it is obscure; / Who wyl therof knowe all the perfeytnes / In phylosophy he shall fynde it ryght sure, / Whyche all the trouth can to hym discure.
    • 1593, William Shakespeare, Richard II, act I, scene iii, line 160:
      The Language I haue learn’d these forty yeares (My natiue English) now I must forgo.
    • ibidem, line 173:
      Thy sentence…robs my tongue from breathing natiue breath.
    • 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa and Asia the Great, second edition, page 37:
      They have a native language of their owne, but the Persian tongue is understood by most.
    • c. 1700, Alexander Pope, Ode on Solitude, first quatrain:
      Happy the man, whose wish and care / A few paternal acres bound, / Content to breathe his native air / In his own ground.
    • 1780, James Harris, Philological Inquiries (pages 385–539), in The Works of James Harris, Esq., with an account of His Life and Character, by his son, The Earl of Malmesbury., Oxford: printed by J. Vincent for Thomas Tegg, 73, Cheapside, London, published 1841, part III (pages 454–539), chapter xiv. “Superior Literature and Knowledge both of the Greek and Latin Clergy [] ” (pages 529–533), page 529:
      Those of the western church were obliged to acquire some knowledge of Latin; and for Greek, to those of the eastern church it was still (with a few corruptions) their native language.
    • 1817, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, canto I, stanza xix, lines 5–6:
      [] But to the Snake those accents sweet were known / His native tongue and hers; []
    • 1841, George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Customs and Manners of the North American Indians, volume I, published 1844, page 6:
      Their habits, as we can see them transacted, are native.
    • 1876, Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger, translated by Alfred Plummer, Hippolytus and Callistus, volume II, page 87:
      His name has been metamorphosed in Syria and Egypt into the more native-sounding Abulides.
    • 1877, Maria Margaret Grant, The Sun-Maid. A Romance., page viii:
      They were dressed in their native costumes.
  2. Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from prehistoric times.
    What are now called ‘Native Americans’ used to be called Indians.
  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], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →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).

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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

Noun

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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

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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French

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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native

  1. feminine singular of natif

Anagrams

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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

Adjective

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native

  1. feminine plural of nativo

Noun

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native f pl

  1. plural of nativa

Anagrams

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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nātīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of nātīvus

Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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native

  1. feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of nativ