Native Meaning
/ˈneɪtɪv/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjBelonging to one by birth.
adjCharacteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from prehistoric times.
Sentence Examples
We had native guides on our trip to the mountain.
English is not my native language.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ plant has adapted to the local climate over thousands of years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The kangaroo is a ____ species of Australia and cannot be found in the wild in any other several parts of the world.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 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:
"The Language I haue learn’d these forty yeares (My natiue English) now I must forgo."
— 1593, William Shakespeare, Richard II, act I, scene iii, line 160:
"Thy sentence…robs my tongue from breathing natiue breath."
— ibidem, line 173
"They have a native language of their owne, but the Persian tongue is understood by most."
— 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa and Asia the Great, second edition, page 37:
"Happy the man, whose wish and care / A few paternal acres bound, / Content to breathe his native air / In his own ground."
— c. 1700, Alexander Pope, Ode on Solitude, first quatrain:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ plant has adapted to the local climate over thousands of years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The kangaroo is a ____ species of Australia and cannot be found in the wild in any other several parts of the world.