The difference between Aboriginal and Indigenous

When used as adjectives, aboriginal means first according to historical or scientific records, whereas indigenous means born or engendered in, native to a land or region, especially before an intrusion.


Aboriginal is also noun with the meaning: an animal or plant native to a region.

check bellow for the other definitions of Aboriginal and Indigenous

  1. Aboriginal as an adjective:

    First according to historical or scientific records; original; indigenous; primitive.

  2. Aboriginal as an adjective:

    Living in a land before colonization by the Europeans.

  3. Aboriginal as an adjective:

  1. Aboriginal as a noun:

    An animal or plant native to a region.

  2. Aboriginal as a noun:

  1. Indigenous as an adjective (chiefly, of living things):

    Born or engendered in, native to a land or region, especially before an intrusion.

  2. Indigenous as an adjective:

    Innate, inborn.

  3. Indigenous as an adjective:

    Of or relating to the native inhabitants of a land.

  4. Indigenous as an adjective:

    Of or relating to a language, culture, or ethnic group that has not spread by colonization, or that has been on the receiving end of colonization.