indigenous

\ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\

/\ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\/ adj

The verdict

“indigenous” is uncommon French (frequency #99,222 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#99,222
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Indigène, aborigène, autochtone.

Corpus desk

Index FR-indigenous · indigenous · French

indigenous · rank #99,222 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #99,222
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH incroyant

Nearest frequency peer: incroyant (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « indigenous »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « indigenous » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for indigenous
PropertyValue
Headwordindigenous
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\
Letters10
Frequency rank#99,222
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « indigenous » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).indigenoustombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « incroyant » (#99,221), « inexploitable » (#99,223), « inexpugnable » (#99,224). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « indigenous » est au #99,222. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

indigenous is uncommon French at frequency #99,222 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for indigenous, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is indigenous, spelled I-N-D-I-G-E-N-O-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Indigène, aborigène, autochtone.
  2. 2
    Inné, naturel (à partir du 19ᵉ siècle).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how indigenous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Not only the Indian, but many indigenous insects, birds, and quadrupeds, welcomed the apple-tree to these shores.
  2. She was a native and essential cook, as much as Aunt Chloe,—cooking being an indigenous talent of the African race.

Synonyms

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "indigenous"?
"indigenous" is spelled I-N-D-I-G-E-N-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\.
What does "indigenous" mean?
As an adjective, "indigenous" means: Indigène, aborigène, autochtone.
How do you pronounce "indigenous"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "indigenous" is \ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "indigenous" come from?
"indigenous" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "indigenous", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list