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say it: en-DEM-ik
endemic is an adjective and noun meaning "of or relating to a disease (or anything resembling a disease) constantly present to greater or lesser extent in a particular locality". It carries 5 recorded senses.
of or relating to a disease (or anything resembling a disease) constantly present to greater or lesser extent in a particular locality
“diseases endemic to the tropics”
“endemic malaria”
“food shortages and starvation are endemic in certain parts of the world”
native to or confined to a certain region
“the islands have a number of interesting endemic species”
ecology
originating where it is found
“the autochthonal fauna of Australia includes the kangaroo”
“autochthonous rocks and people and folktales”
“endemic folkways”
“the Ainu are indigenous to the northernmost islands of Japan”
a disease that is constantly present to a greater or lesser degree in people of a certain class or in people living in a particular location
a plant that is native to a certain limited area
“it is an endemic found only this island”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for endemic come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.