an original inhabitant of a country or region who has been there from the earliest known times
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
ab•o•rig•i•ne /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒəni/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Anthropologyone of the original or earliest known inhabitants of a country or region, esp. of Australia.
ab o•rig•i•ne
(äb ō rig′i ne′; Eng. ab ô rij′ə nē′, -ō rij′-),USA pronunciation
ab•o•rig•i•ne (ab′ə rij′ə nē),USA pronunciation n.
- Foreign Terms[Latin.]from the very beginning;
from the source or origin.
ab•o•rig•i•ne (ab′ə rij′ə nē),USA pronunciation n.
- Anthropologyone of the original or earliest known inhabitants of a country or region.
- Language Varieties, Language Varieties(cap.) Also, Aboriginal. Also called Australian Aborigine. a member of the dark-skinned people who were the earliest inhabitants of Australia.
- aborigines, the original, native fauna or flora of a region.
- Latin Aborīginēs a race of pre-Roman inhabitants of Italy, probably alteration of an earlier ethnonym by association with ab origine
- by back formation from aborigines 1540–50
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
- Also called: Aboriginal
a member of the indigenous people who were living in Australia when European settlers arrived any of the languages of this people
See alsoAustralian 3