native speaker
noun
: a person who learned to speak the language of the place where he or she was born as a child rather than learning it as a foreign language
a native speaker of Swahili
That kind of mistake is rarely made by native speakers.
Examples of native speaker in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Her interest in cooking was inspired by her grandmother, a native speaker of Patuá—a mix of Portuguese, Cantonese, and other languages found along the Portuguese trade routes—who was tasked with feeding a family of 14.
—
Austin Bush, Travel + Leisure, 11 Aug. 2025
García, who lives in Perú, is the last living native speaker of his language, Taushiro.
—Anesce Dremen, Longreads, 3 July 2025
Gomez, who is not a native speaker, plays Jessi del Monte in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama about a drug lord who escapes his life of brutality to transition in secret with the help of a sentimental lawyer (Zoe Saldana).
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 8 Dec. 2024
The messages, viewed by The New York Times, were all written in Russian, apparently by a native speaker well versed in vulgar slang.
—Jenny Gross, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
Sound more like a native speaker and be confident when interacting with others.
—Stack Commerce, Popular Science, 11 May 2023
For anyone, native speaker or not, this book offers a pleasurable and humorous voyage of discovery.
—Peter Trudgill, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
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Austin Bush, Travel + Leisure, 11 Aug. 2025
García, who lives in Perú, is the last living native speaker of his language, Taushiro.
—Anesce Dremen, Longreads, 3 July 2025
Gomez, who is not a native speaker, plays Jessi del Monte in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama about a drug lord who escapes his life of brutality to transition in secret with the help of a sentimental lawyer (Zoe Saldana).
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 8 Dec. 2024
The messages, viewed by The New York Times, were all written in Russian, apparently by a native speaker well versed in vulgar slang.
—Jenny Gross, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
Sound more like a native speaker and be confident when interacting with others.
—Stack Commerce, Popular Science, 11 May 2023
For anyone, native speaker or not, this book offers a pleasurable and humorous voyage of discovery.
—Peter Trudgill, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Native speaker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/native%20speaker. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
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