endemic

• endemick (obsolete)

From Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + δῆμος (dêmos, “people”). Possibly via ἔνδημος (éndēmos, “among one's people, at home, native”) and/or French endémique.

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ɛnˈdɛm.ɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmɪk

endemic (not comparable)

1. Native to a particular area or culture; originating where it occurs.

   The endemic religion of Easter Island arrived with the Polynesian settlers.

2. (especially of plants and animals) Peculiar to a particular area or region; not found in other places.

   Kangaroos are endemic to Australia.

3. (especially of diseases) Prevalent in a particular area or region.

   Malaria is endemic to the tropics.

   • 1998, Gillian Catriona Ramchand, Deconstructing the Lexicon, in Miriam Butt and Wilhelm Geuder, eds. “The Projection of Arguments”

     These problems are endemic to the theory of thematic roles as currently conceived, because the classification it implies simply does not correspond to legitimate linguistic semantic definitions.

   • 2017 July 26, Lindsay Murdoch, "Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's first female PM, faces financial ruin and jail", in smh.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald;

     In a country where corruption is endemic, no evidence has been presented that Ms Yingluck took any money from the rice scheme, which in 2012 and 2013 cost Thailand billions of dollars. But a state-appointed committee last year ordered her to pay the fine, finding she was to blame, even though it was government policy.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

An endemic disease is one which is constantly present in a given area, though usually at low levels, whereas an epidemic is widespread and has a high incidence. A sporadic disease occurs now and then at low levels.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:endemic.

• (native to a particular area): native
• (peculiar to a particular area): indigenous

• (native to a particular area): alien, introduced
• (localized): systemic

• ecdemic
• endemism
• epidemic
• pandemic

endemic (plural endemics)

1. An individual or species that is endemic to a region.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 34:

     The species that appeared as a consequence were endemics; that is, they were found nowhere else in the world.

2. A disease affecting a number of people simultaneously, so as to show a distinct connection with certain localities.

• “endemic” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.