Make Your Point: INDIGENOUS

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INDIGENOUS

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce INDIGENOUS:

in DIDGE uh nuss

connect this word to others:

Our word indigenous belongs to a huge family of words that trace back to the Latin gignere, meaning "to birth, or to produce."

That family includes words like engine, genuine, gentle (which originally meant "of noble birth"), and the two words below. Can you recall them? They're precise opposites of each other:

1. Literally "born well," something b__ig_ is kind, mild, gentle, or harmless.

2. Literally "born wicked," something m___g_ causes harm to people on purpose.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Inside the word "indigenous," you can almost see its Latin bits: indu, meaning "in or within;" and gignere, meaning "to birth or to produce."

So, "indigenous" literally means "birthed or produced in (a certain place)."

That's what it means in modern usage, too. Indigenous things and people are the kind that naturally come from a certain place. For example, bluebonnet flowers are indigenous to Texas, and the Seminole people are indigenous to Florida.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Most often, "indigenous" is an adjective, as in "indigenous people" and "The southern wax myrtle tree is indigenous to North and Central America."

Occasionally, "indigenous" is a noun, meaning "the indigenous people of a certain area," as in "On vacation, please be respectful toward the indigenous."

Other forms:

Sometimes you'll see "Indigenous" capitalized when it specifically refers to a group of people.

The adverb is "indigenously."

And the noun is "indigenousness," or, my preference: "indigeneity."

how to use it:

The word "indigenous" is formal, common, and scholarly.

We talk about indigenous plants and animals, and indigenous people and their indigenous culture, communities, traditions, clothes, music, etc.

It's common to describe people and things as "indigenous to" a certain place. "Koʻoloaʻula, a kind of flowering shrub, is indigenous to Hawaii." "Pandas are indigenous to China."

"Indigenous" typically carries a positive or a neutral tone. To strike a negative tone instead, implying that something native to a place is bad, harmful, or growing like a disease, then instead of calling it "indigenous," call it "endemic."

examples:

"Archaeological evidence suggests Indigenous peoples of South America may have kept foxes as pets."
— Nikolas Kozloff, Salon, 19 June 2024

"Hollywood doesn't have the best track record when it comes to depicting indigenous cultures on screen.... [but it] does appear that some real thought was put into Prey's approach, from the use of the Comanche language to the indigenous talent both in front of and behind the camera."
— Andrew Webster, The Verge, 3 August 2022

has this page helped you understand "indigenous"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "indigenous" without saying "native" or "original."

try it out:

In an article titled "Indigenous Tourism Goes Deeper Than 'Dinner and a Show,'" Michael Harmon wrote:

"Around the globe, travelers are looking to get beyond superficial interactions with Native cultures for more in-depth experiences, like tours led by Indigenous guides and stays at Native-owned lodges."

Why do you think indigenous tourism is becoming more popular? Would you enjoy indigenous tourism yourself? Why or why not?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is the Game of Venery!

Longtime readers may recognize this game from 2019, when we played with terms from James Lipton's book An Exaltation of Larks. This time, we’ll play with terms from Daniel E. Meyers's online Collective Noun Catalog.

To play, check out the two templates below, and have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family. You can be as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. To see the way the terms actually appear in Meyers's catalog, scroll to the bottom of the issue.

Try these today:

1. an undulation of _____

2. a/an _____ of fishermen

review this word:

1. Opposites of INDIGENOUS include

A. WEALTHY and AFFLUENT.
B. UPDATED and RENOVATED.
C. FOREIGN and TRANSPLANTED.

2. In an article for the Institute of Culinary Education, David Watsy notes that the Acorn Squash is "_____."

A. indigenous to North and Central America
B. indigenous for its stark resemblance to a pepper squash
C. indigenous with dashing hues of deep green and bright yellow

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INDIGENOUS Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INDIGENOUS

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.