Meaning

noun an indigenous person who was born in a particular place

noun a person born in a particular place or country

noun indigenous plants and animals

originInherited from Middle English natif, from Old French natif, from Latin nātīvus, from nātus (“birth”). Doublet of naive and neif. Displaced native Middle English thedisch, equivalent to (puristic) theed + -ish. By surface analysis, Latin nat- + -ive. Compare also inborn.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0