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autochthon.

The earliest inhabitant of an area; an indigenous person.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɔːˈtɒkθ(ə)n/Received-Pronunciation/ɔːˈtɒkθɒn/Received-Pronunciation/ɔˈtɑkθ(ə)n/General-American/ɔˈtɑkˌθɑn/General-American
  1. The earliest inhabitant of an area; an indigenous person.

    formal
  2. A large mass of rock in the place of its original formation, rooted to its basement (foundation rock) as opposed to an allochthon or nappe which has shifted from the place of formation; an autochthonous rock formation.

  3. A term referring to mortals and immortals who have sprung, fully-formed, from the soil, rocks and trees. Mythical characters, such as Erichthonius (a son of Hephaestus and Gaia, and raised by Athena), and Cecrops I, are two most well-known examples.

Where this word comes from

From Ancient Greek αὐτόχθων (autókhthōn, “indigenous”), from αὐτός (autós, “self”) + χθών (khthṓn, “earth, soil”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.