Definition of "autochthonous" []

• Originating where found; indigenous: autochthonous rocks; an autochthonous people; autochthonous folktales. See Synonyms at native. (adjective)
• Biology Originating or formed in the place where found: an autochthonous blood clot. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But it was 14-year-old David Tidmarsh of South Bend, Indiana who spelled the final word autochthonous to become this year's champion."
• "There is a very distinct tendency for people of British birth (and now we are using British in another sense of the word) to think of British democracy as something which is their particular property, a kind of autochthonous English growth transported by the English and the Scots to less fortunate portions of the globe."
• "What follows are his juicy thoughts on the dollar and wine prices, strikes, the summer from hell, Greek wines, the word of the day ( "autochthonous"), and why he's drinking rosé all year long."