islander

Etymology

It is formed from English island + -er.^[2][3][4][5] Johnson noted that it was pronounced “ilander”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A native or inhabitant of an island: c. 1553, in a manuscript life of Bishop Fisher dated 1553–77.^[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1540s,^[3][5] and Merriam-Webster to about 1550.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same, and the word is often combined with a place name, as in Channel Islander or South Sea Islander.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as an inhabitant of a country surrounded by water, quoting Camden ("We, as all islanders, are lunares, or the moon's men") and Shakespeare's Othello.^[6] In New Zealand, written with a capital, it means a native of the Pacific Islands.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1553 – a native or inhabitant of an island.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of an island: The islanders depend on the ferry for supplies.^[8][7][2]
2. (New Zealand, Islander) A native or inhabitant of the Pacific Islands.^[8]

Related words

• isle
• off-islander
• island

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins