English Explanatory Dictionary

refugee

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person seeking refuge (as for shelter or protection), especially in a foreign country, out of fear or prospect of political, religious persecution, war, natural disaster, etc.
  2. A person who is fleeing from justice, punishment deemed righteous, etc.; a runaway, a fugitive.
verb
  1. To convey (slaves) away from the advance of the federal forces.

Pronunciation

/ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/ /ɹɛfjʊˈd͡ʒiː/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-refugee.wav

Word forms

refugee refugees refugeeing refugeed

Etymology

From French réfugié, past participle of réfugier (“to take refuge, to seek refuge”), from Old French refuge (“hiding place”) from Latin refugium (“a place of refuge, place to flee back to”), originally describing French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Noun sense 1 was "one seeking asylum" until 1914, when it evolved to mean more generally "one fleeing home" (first applied in this sense to civilians in Flanders heading west to escape fighting in World War I). By surface analysis, refuge + -ee. Displaced native Old English flīema.

Synonyms

flightling

Related words

asylum citizenshipless countryless economic asylum internally displaced person nationless political asylum refoulement refuge

Derived words

antirefugee climate refugee economic refugee environmental refugee internal refugee leftugee McRefugee nonrefugee quota refugee rapefugee reffo refugee camp refugeedom refugeehood refugeeism refugeeship refugitive refujew

Translations

Armenian: փախստական Belarusian: уцяка́ч Belarusian: уцяка́чка Belarusian: бе́жанец Belarusian: бе́жанка Bulgarian: бежане́ц Bulgarian: бежанка́ Catalan: refugiat Chinese Mandarin: 難民 /难民 Czech: uprchlík Finnish: pakolainen German: Flüchtling Hindi: शरणार्थी Hungarian: menekült Malay: pelari Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി Māori: konene Polish: uchodźca Portuguese: asilado Russian: бе́женец Russian: бе́женка Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach Swahili: mkimbizi Tamil: அகதி Ukrainian: бі́женець Ukrainian: бі́женка
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