Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of indiĝeno
Coloured illustration of indiĝeno
#1742 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

indigenous inhabitant, native person

Word origin

From Latin indigena, one born in the place, built from the old preposition indu ('within') and the root gen- ('to be born'). Esperanto took the Latin word whole rather than assembling it from its own parts.

Origin
Latin
Root
indigena
English cognates
indigenous, genesis, genus

Examples

.

The island's indigenous people speak their own language.

.

The museum shows the art of the indigenous peoples.

.

The language of the indigenous people still lives in the villages.

is the general word for a people native to the land it lives in, anywhere on earth, and it is the one to reach for by default. Do not confuse it with indiano, which means specifically an Indigenous person of the Americas and which many speakers now avoid for the same reasons English has retired Indian in that sense. Hindo is a person from India, and hindua is the religion, so three words English once blurred together stay apart here. The wider system of country and people names is set out in Landoj kaj popoloj.

Where this fits

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Esperanto · Free printables

indiĝeno: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "indiĝeno" (indigenous inhabitant, native person): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 35.