Meanings
plural inhabitants · alternative enhabitant
- Someone or thing who lives in a place.
I believed it in the same way one of you might believe there are inhabitants in the planet Mars. I knew once a Scotch sailmaker who was certain, dead sure, there were people in Mars.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 2162 more examples
It was obvious to the inhabitants of the small coastal town of Bridport that in the midst of these squabbles their need for a railway was going to be overlooked, and they decided to take the matter into their own hands.
1957 November 28, J. Spencer Gilks, “Centenary of the Bridport Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 747About 98 per cent of Taiwan's inhabitants are Han Chinese, a diverse mix of ethnic and linguistic groups, including Hakka, Cantonese and Fujianese, who came from China's southern coast. Taiwan's other two per cent are from one of the nine indigenous tribes, which are scattered throughout the island but largely concentrated along the east coast and in the Central Mountain Range.
2007 April, Julie Grundvig, “TAIWAN”, in The Asia Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the Continent, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 103, column 2 - type theoryA possible value for a type.
One way to observe this connection with mathematics is by mapping each type to its cardinality, a count of the inhabitants of that type.
2021, Martin Odersky et al., chapter 19, in Programming in Scala, 5th edition, Artima, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who inhabits a particular place
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ghabh-“to seize, take, hold, have”
- Latininhabitāns
- Old Frenchinhabitant
- Middle Englishinhabitantes
- Englishinhabitant
From Middle English inhabitantes (n. plural) and inhabitaunt (adj.), from Old French inhabitant, from Latin inhabitāns, present participle of inhabitō (“to inhabit”), from in- (“in”) + habitō (“to dwell”) (frequentative of habeō (“to hold”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to seize, take, hold, have”). By surface analysis, inhabit + -ant.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κάτοικος, οἰκήτωρ
- κάτοικος (kátoikos)someone or thing who lives in a place
- οἰκήτωρ (oikḗtōr)someone or thing who lives in a place
Arabic سَاكِن, سَاكِنَة
- سَاكِن (sākin)someone or thing who lives in a place
- سَاكِنَة (sākina)someone or thing who lives in a place
- سُكَّان (sukkān)someone or thing who lives in a place
- أَهْل (ʔahl)someone or thing who lives in a place
Basque biztanle, bizilagun
- biztanlesomeone or thing who lives in a place
- bizilagunsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Bengali বাসিন্দা
- বাসিন্দা (baśinda)someone or thing who lives in a place
Bulgarian жи́тел, жи́телка
- жи́тел (žítel)someone or thing who lives in a place
- жи́телка (žítelka)someone or thing who lives in a place
- жи́телче (žítelče)someone or thing who lives in a place
- обита́тел (obitátel)someone or thing who lives in a place
- обита́телка (obitátelka)someone or thing who lives in a place
- обита́телче (obitátelče)someone or thing who lives in a place
Catalan habitant
- habitantsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Chinese Mandarin 居民, 居住者
- 居民 (jūmín)someone or thing who lives in a place
- 居住者 (jūzhùzhě)someone or thing who lives in a place
Czech obyvatel, obyvatelka
- obyvatelsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- obyvatelkasomeone or thing who lives in a place
Danish indbygger
- indbyggersomeone or thing who lives in a place
Dutch bewoner, bewoonster
- bewonersomeone or thing who lives in a place
- bewoonstersomeone or thing who lives in a place
- inwonersomeone or thing who lives in a place
- inwoonstersomeone or thing who lives in a place
Esperanto loĝanto, loĝantino
- loĝantosomeone or thing who lives in a place
- loĝantinosomeone or thing who lives in a place
- enloĝantosomeone or thing who lives in a place
- enloĝantinosomeone or thing who lives in a place
Estonian asukas
- asukassomeone or thing who lives in a place
Finnish asukas
- asukassomeone or thing who lives in a place
French habitant, habitante
- habitantsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- habitantesomeone or thing who lives in a place
- résidentsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- résidentesomeone or thing who lives in a place
German Einwohner, Einwohnerin
- Einwohnersomeone or thing who lives in a place
- Einwohnerinsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- Bewohnersomeone or thing who lives in a place
- Bewohnerinsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Greek κάτοικος
- κάτοικος (kátoikos)someone or thing who lives in a place
Hebrew תושב \ תּוֹשָׁב, תּוֹשֶׁבֶת \ תושבת
- תושב \ תּוֹשָׁב (tosháv)someone or thing who lives in a place
- תּוֹשֶׁבֶת \ תושבת (toshévet)someone or thing who lives in a place
Hindi निवासी, रहनेवाला
- निवासी (nivāsī)someone or thing who lives in a place
- रहनेवाला (rahnevālā)someone or thing who lives in a place
- वासी (vāsī)someone or thing who lives in a place
Hungarian lakos, lakó
- lakossomeone or thing who lives in a place
- lakósomeone or thing who lives in a place
Icelandic íbúi
- íbúisomeone or thing who lives in a place
Indonesian pemukim, penduduk
- pemukimsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- penduduksomeone or thing who lives in a place
Irish áitreabhach, áitreabhthóir
- áitreabhachsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- áitreabhthóirsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Italian abitante
- abitantesomeone or thing who lives in a place
Japanese 居住者, 住民
- 居住者 (kyojūsha)someone or thing who lives in a place
- 住民 (jūmin)someone or thing who lives in a place
Korean 주민, 거주자
- 주민 (jumin)someone or thing who lives in a place
- 거주자 (geojuja)someone or thing who lives in a place
Latin cultor, cultrīx
- cultorsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- cultrīxsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- incolasomeone or thing who lives in a place
- habitātorsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- habitātrīxsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Latvian iedzīvotājs
- iedzīvotājssomeone or thing who lives in a place
Lithuanian gyventojas
- gyventojassomeone or thing who lives in a place
Malay penghuni
- penghunisomeone or thing who lives in a place
Māori kainoho
- kainohosomeone or thing who lives in a place
Norwegian Bokmål innbygger
- innbyggersomeone or thing who lives in a place
Persian ساکن, مقیم
- ساکن (sâken)someone or thing who lives in a place
- مقیم (moqim)someone or thing who lives in a place
- اهل (ahl)someone or thing who lives in a place
Polish mieszkaniec, mieszkanka
- mieszkaniecsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- mieszkankasomeone or thing who lives in a place
Portuguese habitante
- habitantesomeone or thing who lives in a place
Punjabi ਵਸਨੀਕ, ਬਾਸ਼ਿੰਦਾ
- ਵਸਨੀਕ (vasnīk)someone or thing who lives in a place
- ਬਾਸ਼ਿੰਦਾ (bāśindā)someone or thing who lives in a place
Romanian locuitor, locuitoare
- locuitorsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- locuitoaresomeone or thing who lives in a place
Russian жи́тель, жи́тельница
- жи́тель (žítelʹ)someone or thing who lives in a place
- жи́тельница (žítelʹnica)someone or thing who lives in a place
- обита́тель (obitátelʹ)someone or thing who lives in a place
- обита́тельница (obitátelʹnica)someone or thing who lives in a place
Slovak obyvateľ, obyvateľka
- obyvateľsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- obyvateľkasomeone or thing who lives in a place
Spanish habitante
- habitantesomeone or thing who lives in a place
Swahili mwenyeji
- mwenyejisomeone or thing who lives in a place
Swedish invånare, inbyggare
- invånaresomeone or thing who lives in a place
- inbyggaresomeone or thing who lives in a place
Thai พลเมือง, พสกนิกร
- พลเมือง (pon-lá-mʉʉang)someone or thing who lives in a place
- พสกนิกร (pá-sòk-gà-ní-gɔɔn)someone or thing who lives in a place
Turkish oturan, sakin
- oturansomeone or thing who lives in a place
- sakinsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Ukrainian ме́шканець, ме́шканка
- ме́шканець (méškanecʹ)someone or thing who lives in a place
- ме́шканка (méškanka)someone or thing who lives in a place
- жи́тель (žýtelʹ)someone or thing who lives in a place
- жи́телька (žýtelʹka)someone or thing who lives in a place
Vietnamese cư dân
- cư dânsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Welsh preswylydd, trigiannydd
- preswylyddsomeone or thing who lives in a place
- trigiannyddsomeone or thing who lives in a place
Cite this entry
inhabitant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inhabitant
“inhabitant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inhabitant. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inhabitant,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inhabitant.
Source: inhabitant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.