indigenous
/ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/
"indigenous" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“indigenous” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,506 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,506
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Native to a land, especially before colonization.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | indigenous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #5,506 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “indigenous” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for indigenous is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,506 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for indigenous, with forms such as "idnigenous", "inddigenous", and "indgienous". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 correct English form is indigenous, spelled I-N-D-I-G-E-N-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Native to a land, especially before colonization.
- 2Native to a land, especially before colonization.
- 3Innate, inborn.
- 4Original to a geographical area.
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 piecewise doublet endogenous. Unrelated to Indian.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: idnigenous,inddigenous,indgienous,indiegnous,indigennous,indigenosu,indigenouss,indigenuos,indigeonus,indiggenous,indigneous,inidgenous,inndigenous,nidigenous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of indigenous - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “indigenous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-D-I-G-E-N-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.