inhabitant
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a person or animal that lives in a particular place.
a person or animal that inhabits a specified place; a permanent or long-term resident.
Simple“The local inhabitants were not happy about the new road being built through the forest.”
In context“The island's original inhabitants developed a unique culture that remained largely untouched by outside influences for centuries.”
UsageUsually followed by the preposition 'of' when specifying the location.
PitfallThe city has many inhabitants people. The city has many inhabitants.Inhabitant is a noun that means 'resident people'. You do not need to add the word 'people' after it.
- 02 C2 Proficiency
a specific value that belongs to a certain category or type.
An element or value that belongs to a specific type in type theory or logic.
Simple“In this programming language, the number five is an inhabitant of the integer type.”
In context“The researcher proved that the type was non-empty by constructing a specific inhabitant using a recursive function.”
UsageUsed primarily in formal logic and computer science contexts.
“Because of her childhood and her past, Marissa experiences the approach of Sandy differently from other inhabitants of the city.”
“The evidence suggests that the site's inhabitants were not carefully selecting specific tree species for fuel.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.