native speaker

American  

[ney-tiv spee-ker] / ˈneɪ tɪv ˈspi kər /

noun

native speakers plural

1. a person whose knowledge and use of a language is characterized by the fact that it is their first or native language, a language that a person acquires fully through extensive exposure in childhood: The first requirement is that you can hold a one-minute conversation with a native speaker of German.

   As native speakers, we are often not conscious of the conjugation rules we follow.

   The first requirement is that you can hold a one-minute conversation with a native speaker of German.

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native speaker British  

noun

1. a person having a specified native language

   a native speaker of Cree

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• native speakers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of native speaker

First recorded in 1855–60; see also nonnative speaker ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

native speaker

His Russian accent in “Chess” is so convincing that he’s had theatergoers come up to him after the show and launch into Russian as though he were a native speaker.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026

She worked alongside Eyni, a native speaker of Azeri, the language spoken in the region.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026

Simple for a native speaker, possible for the truly dedicated learner, vexing for the user who learned how to say only “Dog food is better than no food” on an app.

From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2023

Yahata's presentation is from a script translated by her English teacher, which she rehearses by reading along to a recording made by a native speaker.

From Reuters ● May 16, 2023

Everyone at Posada Middle took Spanish, but Ellie wasn’t a native speaker, so I wondered how much she understood.

From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez