The Word of the Day

endemic \en-DEM-ik\ adjective
1 a : belonging or native to a particular people or country *b : characteristic of or prevalent in a particular field, area, or environment
2 : restricted or peculiar to a locality or region

Example sentence: Today, cybercafes are endemic to the downtown areas of big cities.

Did you know? If you translate it literally, "endemic" means "in the population." It derives from the Greek "endemos," which joins "en," meaning "in," and "demos," meaning "population." "Endemic" is often used to characterize diseases that are generally found in a particular area; malaria, for example, is said to be endemic to tropical and subtropical regions. This use differs from that of the related word "epidemic" in that it indicates a more or less constant presence in a particular population or area rather than a sudden, severe outbreak within that region or group. The word is also used by biologists to characterize the plant and animal species that are only found in a given area.