indigenous

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.

adj

1. Born or originating in, native to a land or region, especially before an intrusion.
   Not only the Indian, but many indigenous insects, birds, and quadrupeds, welcomed the apple-tree to these shores. 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree
   Horses, like camels, had once been indigenous to Latin America but had become extinct. 1997, Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Monthly Review Press, page 17
   1. In particular, 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.
      The Ainu are the indigenous ethnic group of Japan's Hokkaido Island.
      About 98 per cent of Taiwan's inhabitants are Han Chinese, a diverse mix of ethnic and linguistic groups, including Hakka, Cantonese and Fujianese, who came from China's southern coast. Taiwan's other two per cent are from one of the nine indigenous tribes, which are scattered throughout the island but largely concentrated along the east coast and in the Central Mountain Range. 2007 April, Julie Grundvig, “TAIWAN”, in The Asia Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the Continent, →OCLC, page 103, column 2
2. Innate, inborn.
   He had all the tricks of a newspaper boy indigenous in him. 1883, George MacDonald, “Stephen Archer”, in Stephen Archer and Other Tales