• Autochthonous

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ɔːˈtÉ’kθənÉ™s/
    • US IPA: /ɔˈtÉ‘kθənÉ™s/
    • cot-caught IPA: /ɑˈtÉ‘kθənÉ™s/,

    Origin

    Literally, "native to the soil"; from autochthon + -ous.

    Full definition of autochthonous

    Adjective

    autochthonous

    1. Native to the place where found; indigenous.
      • 1889, Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. I, page 375:Two of the most celebrated of the evolutionists reject the autochthonous view, for Darwin's Descent of Man and Haeckel's Hist. of Creation consider the American man an emigrant from the old world, whatever way the race may have developed
      • 1983, Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn Chapter 22, Only human beings could live on this world and know that they were not autochthonous but had stemmed from Earthmen—and yet did the Spacers really know it or did they simply put it out of their mind?
    2. (biology, medicine) Originating where found.
    3. (geology) Buried in place, especially of a fossil preserved in its life position without disturbance or disarticulation.
      • 1992, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, et al., Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time, page 83:Death and burial may be simultaneous, resulting in a preserved snapshot of an autochthonous assemblage that may be compared directly with present day ecosystems.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

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