Austronesian

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Austronesisch; coined by Wilhelm Schmidt. From Latin austro- (“southern”) +‎ Ancient Greek νῆσος (nêsos, “island”) +‎ -ian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɔːs.tɹoʊˈniː.ʒən/

Adjective

Austronesian (comparative more Austronesian, superlative most Austronesian)

1. Pertaining to the Austronesian language family.

   an Austronesian language

2. Of or pertaining to Austronesia.
   • 2022 August 6, Tyson Lu, Sean Lin, “Taitung university launches doctoral program on Austronesian studies”, in Focus Taiwan‎^[1], archived from the original on 06 August 2022, Culture:

     Taitung County, with seven Indigenous peoples of Austronesian descent -- Amis, Paiwan, Bunun, Rukai, Pinuyumayan (also known as the Puyuma), Yami (also known as the Tao), and Kavalan -- is the most diverse region in Taiwan in terms of Austronesian culture, offering students a chance to apply their research to real-world scenarios and engage in intimate observations of how indigenous groups grapple with the challenges of modern times, Chen said.

Derived terms

• Austronesianist

Translations

of or pertaining to Austronesia

• Catalan: austronèsic
• Chinese: 南島／南岛 (zh) (Nándǎo)
• Danish: austronesisk
• Dutch: Austronesisch (nl)
• Esperanto: aŭstronezia
• Finnish: austronesialainen (fi)
• German: austronesisch (de)
• Irish: Astrainéiseach
• Kapampangan: Awstronesyu, Austronesiu
• Malay: Austronesia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: austronesisk

  Nynorsk: austronesisk

• Portuguese: austronésio (pt)
• Russian: австронезийский (ru) (avstronezijskij)
• Scots: Austronesie
• Spanish: austronesio
• Tagalog: Sampuluanin
• Welsh: Awstronesaidd

Noun

Austronesian (plural Austronesians)

1. A speaker of an Austronesian language, especially a member of the ancient maritime culture that spread Austronesian languages across the Pacific from Taiwan.

Derived terms

• Austronesia (back-formation)

Further reading

• Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
• “Austronesian”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Austronesian languages on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• list of major and official Austronesian languages on Wikipedia.Wikipedia