"digital native" meaning in All languages combined

See digital native on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-digital native.wav [US] Forms: digital natives [plural]
Etymology: Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001. Etymology templates: {{coin|en|Marc Prensky|in=2001|nocat=1|occ=education consultant}} Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001 Head templates: {{en-noun}} digital native (plural digital natives)
  1. (technology, sociology) A person who has grown up in an environment replete with digital interactions and ways of communicating, thought to increase difficulty with traditional nondigital teaching methods, work practices, etc. Derived forms: non-digital native Translations (person): diginatiivi (Finnish), digital native (French), cyfrowy tubylec [masculine, person] (Polish), цифровой абориген (cifrovoj aborigen) [masculine] (Russian)

Inflected forms

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "digital naive"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "in": "2001",
        "nocat": "1",
        "occ": "education consultant"
      },
      "expansion": "Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001",
      "name": "coin"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "digital natives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "digital native (plural digital natives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "digital immigrant"
        },
        {
          "word": "non-digital native"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sociology",
          "orig": "en:Sociology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Technology",
          "orig": "en:Technology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "non-digital native"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              146,
              161
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1085:",
          "text": "This may potentially have a negative impact on the ultimate utility of this feedback method with present-day students who perceive themselves as ‘digital natives’.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 January 2, Rania Ahmed El Garem, “HR digital transformation: enhancing human resource management through technology”, in Future Business Journal, volume 12, number 1, Springer, →DOI, →ISSN, page 7:",
          "text": "[T]he overall profile of younger demographics (35% aged 21–30) implied that age should be considered in terms of the difference in AI familiarity between younger professionals, who expressed greater knowledge management skills regarding AI strategic knowledge management, which is a finding that does not sit well with assumptions of automatic transfer of digital native to organizational competency.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has grown up in an environment replete with digital interactions and ways of communicating, thought to increase difficulty with traditional nondigital teaching methods, work practices, etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-digital_native-en-noun-noWCk8q3",
      "links": [
        [
          "technology",
          "technology"
        ],
        [
          "sociology",
          "sociology"
        ],
        [
          "grown up",
          "grow up"
        ],
        [
          "environment",
          "environment"
        ],
        [
          "replete",
          "replete"
        ],
        [
          "digital",
          "digital"
        ],
        [
          "interaction",
          "interaction"
        ],
        [
          "communicating",
          "communicating"
        ],
        [
          "difficulty",
          "difficulty"
        ],
        [
          "traditional",
          "traditional"
        ],
        [
          "nondigital",
          "nondigital"
        ],
        [
          "teaching",
          "teaching"
        ],
        [
          "method",
          "method"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "practice",
          "practice"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(technology, sociology) A person who has grown up in an environment replete with digital interactions and ways of communicating, thought to increase difficulty with traditional nondigital teaching methods, work practices, etc."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "human-sciences",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences",
        "social-science",
        "sociology",
        "technology"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "person",
          "word": "diginatiivi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "person",
          "word": "digital native"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "person",
          "tags": [
            "masculine",
            "person"
          ],
          "word": "cyfrowy tubylec"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "cifrovoj aborigen",
          "sense": "person",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "цифровой абориген"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-digital native.wav",
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      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "digital native"
}
{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "digital naive"
    }
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "non-digital native"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "Marc Prensky",
        "in": "2001",
        "nocat": "1",
        "occ": "education consultant"
      },
      "expansion": "Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001",
      "name": "coin"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Coined by education consultant Marc Prensky in 2001.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "digital natives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "digital native (plural digital natives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "digital immigrant"
        },
        {
          "word": "non-digital native"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "en:Sociology",
        "en:Technology"
      ],
      "examples": [
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              146,
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          "ref": "2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1085:",
          "text": "This may potentially have a negative impact on the ultimate utility of this feedback method with present-day students who perceive themselves as ‘digital natives’.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              356,
              370
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 January 2, Rania Ahmed El Garem, “HR digital transformation: enhancing human resource management through technology”, in Future Business Journal, volume 12, number 1, Springer, →DOI, →ISSN, page 7:",
          "text": "[T]he overall profile of younger demographics (35% aged 21–30) implied that age should be considered in terms of the difference in AI familiarity between younger professionals, who expressed greater knowledge management skills regarding AI strategic knowledge management, which is a finding that does not sit well with assumptions of automatic transfer of digital native to organizational competency.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who has grown up in an environment replete with digital interactions and ways of communicating, thought to increase difficulty with traditional nondigital teaching methods, work practices, etc."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "technology",
          "technology"
        ],
        [
          "sociology",
          "sociology"
        ],
        [
          "grown up",
          "grow up"
        ],
        [
          "environment",
          "environment"
        ],
        [
          "replete",
          "replete"
        ],
        [
          "digital",
          "digital"
        ],
        [
          "interaction",
          "interaction"
        ],
        [
          "communicating",
          "communicating"
        ],
        [
          "difficulty",
          "difficulty"
        ],
        [
          "traditional",
          "traditional"
        ],
        [
          "nondigital",
          "nondigital"
        ],
        [
          "teaching",
          "teaching"
        ],
        [
          "method",
          "method"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "practice",
          "practice"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(technology, sociology) A person who has grown up in an environment replete with digital interactions and ways of communicating, thought to increase difficulty with traditional nondigital teaching methods, work practices, etc."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "human-sciences",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences",
        "social-science",
        "sociology",
        "technology"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-digital native.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/81/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-digital_native.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-digital_native.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
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      ]
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  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "person",
      "word": "diginatiivi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "person",
      "word": "digital native"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "person"
      ],
      "word": "cyfrowy tubylec"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "cifrovoj aborigen",
      "sense": "person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "цифровой абориген"
    }
  ],
  "word": "digital native"
}

Download raw JSONL data for digital native meaning in All languages combined (4.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.