refugee

English

Etymology

From French réfugié, past participle of réfugier (“to take refuge”), describing early French Protestants seeking refuge after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685. Analyzable as refuge +‎ -ee. Displaced native Old English flīema.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/, /ɹɛfjʊˈd͡ʒiː/
• Rhymes: -iː

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

refugee (plural refugees)

1. A person seeking refuge in a foreign country out of fear of political persecution or the prospect of such persecution in their home country, i.e., a person seeking political asylum.
   • 1964, John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants‎^[1], Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 78–79:

     In 1962 a special law had to be passed to permit the immigration of several thousand Chinese refugees who had escaped from Communist China to Hong Kong.

2. A person seeking refuge due to a natural disaster, war, etc.
   • 2022 June 13, “Video shows Zelensky call on world to help Taiwan before China invades”, in Taiwan News‎^[2], archived from the original on 13 June 2022:

     Alluding to the regional consequences of a war in the Taiwan Strait, Zelensky pointed out that there could be millions of refugees, similar to the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

3. A person formally granted political or economic asylum by a country other than their home country.
4. (by extension) A person who flees one place or institution for another.
   • 2010, Brian Harrison, Finding a Role?: The United Kingdom 1970-1990, page 2181:

     Why did the SDP dream eventually fade? Partly because it succeeded far better inside parliament than out. It might attract some inner-city Catholic traditionalist Labour refugees from Labour's left, but many of those were already gentrifying.

Synonyms

• flightling

Derived terms

• climate refugee
• economic refugee
• environmental refugee
• internal refugee
• rapefugee
• reffo
• refugee camp
• refugeehood
• refugitive

 

Translations

person seeking political asylum

• Arabic: لَاجِئ m (lājiʔ), لَاجِئَة f (lājiʔa)
• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Assamese: শৰণাৰ্থী (xoronarthi)
• Azerbaijani: qaçqın (az)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Belarusian: уцяка́ч m (ucjakáč), уцяка́чка f (ucjakáčka), бе́жанец m (bjéžanjec), бе́жанка f (bjéžanka)
• Bengali: শরণার্থী (bn) (śoronarthi)
• Bulgarian: бежане́ц (bg) m (bežanéc), бежанка́ f (bežanká)
• Burmese: ဒုက္ခသည် (my) (dukhka.sany)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m, refugiada (ca) f
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 難民／难民 (naan⁶ man⁴)

  Hokkien: 難民／难民 (zh-min-nan) (lān-bîn)

  Mandarin: (政治 zhèngzhì) 難民／难民 (zh) (nànmín), 避難者／避难者 (bìnànzhě)

• Crimean Tatar: qaçaq
• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m, uprchlice (cs) f, běženec (cs) m, běženka f
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Dinka: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: vluchteling (nl) m
• Esperanto: rifuĝinto (eo) (male or female), rifuĝintino (female)
• Estonian: pagulane, põgenik
• Faroese: flóttafólk n
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• French: réfugié (fr) m, réfugiée (fr) f
• Galician: refuxiado (gl) m, refuxiada f
• Georgian: ლტოლვილი (lṭolvili)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m, Flüchtlingin (de) f (obsolete), Asylant (de) m, Asylantin (de) f, Asylbewerber (de) m, Asylbewerberin (de) f
• Greek: πρόσφυγας (el) m or f (prósfygas)
• Greenlandic: qimaasoq
• Haitian Creole: refigye, refijye
• Hebrew: פָּלִיט (he) m (palít)
• Hindi: शरणार्थी (hi) m (śarṇārthī)
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• Icelandic: flóttamaður (is) m
• Italian: rifugiato (it) m, rifugiata (it) f
• Japanese: 難民 (ja) (なんみん, nanmin)
• Kazakh: босқын (bosqyn), қашқын (qaşqyn)
• Khmer: ជនភៀសខ្លួន (cŭən phiəh khluən)
• Korean: 난민(難民) (ko) (nanmin)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پەنابەر (penaber)

  Northern Kurdish: penaber (ku)

• Kyrgyz: качкын (ky) (kackın)
• Lao: ຜູ້ລີ້ໄພ (phū lī phai)
• Latin: profugus m, refugus m
• Latvian: bēglis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: pabėgėlis m
• Macedonian: бегалец m (begalec), бегалка f (begalka), бежанец m (bežanec), бежанка f (bežanka)
• Malay: pelarian (ms), pengungsi
• Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി (ml) (abhayāṟtthi)
• Maori: konene, rerenga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дүрвэгч (mn) (dürvegč)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠦᠷᠪᠡᠭᠴᠢ (dürbeɣči)

• Nepali: शरणार्थी (śaraṇārthī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Old English: flīema m
• Pashto: پناهګزين m (panāhguzín)
• Persian: پَناهَندِه (fa) (panâhande)
• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m, uchodźczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: refugiado (pt) m, refugiada f
• Rohingya: refúji
• Romanian: refugiat (ro) m, refugiată (ro) f
• Romansch: fugitiv
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec), бе́женка (ru) f (béženka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ѝзбеглица m, ѝзбјеглица m

  Roman: ìzbeglica (sh) m, ìzbjeglica m

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: utečenec m, utečenkyňa f, utečenka f
• Slovene: begunec (sl) m, begunka f, pribežnik m, pribežnica f
• Spanish: refugiado (es) m, refugiada (es) f
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Tajik: паноҳанда (panohanda)
• Tamil: அகதி (ta) (akati)
• Tatar: качкын (tt) (qaçkın), качак (tt) (qaçaq)
• Telugu: శరణార్థి (śaraṇārthi), శరణాగతుడు (te) (śaraṇāgatuḍu), కాందిశీకుడు (te) (kāndiśīkuḍu)
• Thai: ผู้ลี้ภัย (pûu-líi-pai)
• Tibetan: བཙན་བྱོལ་བ (btsan byol ba)
• Turkish: sığınmacı (tr), mülteci (tr), göçmen (tr)
• Turkmen: bosgun (tk)
• Ukrainian: бі́женець (uk) m (bíženecʹ), бі́женка f (bíženka)
• Urdu: پناہ گزین m (panāh-guzīn)
• Uyghur: پاناھلانغۇچى (panahlan'ghuchi)
• Uzbek: qochoq (uz), qochqin (uz), qochqindi (uz)
• Vietnamese: người tị nạn, người tỵ nạn, tị nạn (vi), tỵ nạn
• Welsh: ffoadur m
• Yiddish: פּליט m (polet), בעזשענעץ m (bezhenets)

person seeking economic asylum

• Arabic: لَاجِئ m (lājiʔ)
• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Bulgarian: икономи́чески емигра́нт m (ikonomíčeski emigránt)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (經濟 / 经济 jīngjì) 難民／难民 (zh) (nànmín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m, uprchlice (cs) f
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Dinka: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• French: réfugié (fr) m
• Galician: refuxiado (gl) m, refuxiada f
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• Japanese: 難民 (ja) (なんみん, nanmin)
• Latin: profugus m, refugus m
• Malay: pelari (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി (ml) (abhayāṟtthi)
• Maori: konene
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Portuguese: expatriado (pt) m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec), бе́женка (ru) f (béženka)
• Slovene: begunec (sl)
• Spanish: refugiado (es) m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Turkish: mülteci (tr), göçmen (tr)
• Vietnamese: người tị nạn, người tỵ nạn, tị nạn (vi), tỵ nạn

person seeking refuge from natural disaster

• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Belarusian: уцяка́ч m (ucjakáč), уцяка́чка f (ucjakáčka), бе́жанец m (bjéžanjec), бе́жанка f (bjéžanka)
• Bulgarian: бежане́ц (bg) m (bežanéc), бежанка́ f (bežanká)
• Burmese: ဒုက္ခသည် (my) (dukhka.sany)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 災民／灾民 (zh) (zāimín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m, uprchlice (cs) f
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• Georgian: ლტოლვილი (lṭolvili)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• Indonesian: pengungsi (id)
• Malay: pelari (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി (ml) (abhayāṟtthi)
• Maori: konene
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Persian: فراری (fa) (farâri)
• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m, uchodźczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: desabrigado (pt) m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec), бе́женка (ru) f (béženka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Slovene: begunec (sl) m, pribežnik m, pribežnica f
• Spanish: refugiado (es) m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Turkish: mülteci (tr), sığınmacı (tr), göçmen (tr)
• Ukrainian: бі́женець (uk) m (bíženecʹ), бі́женка f (bíženka)
• Vietnamese: người tị nạn, người tỵ nạn, tị nạn (vi), tỵ nạn

person granted formal asylum

• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Belarusian: уцяка́ч m (ucjakáč), уцяка́чка f (ucjakáčka), бе́жанец m (bjéžanjec), бе́жанка f (bjéžanka)
• Bulgarian: бежане́ц (bg) m (bežanéc), бежанка́ f (bežanká)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 難民／难民 (zh) (nànmín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• Malay: pelari (ms)
• Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി (ml) (abhayāṟtthi)
• Maori: konene
• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m
• Portuguese: asilado (pt) m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec), бе́женка (ru) f (béženka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: бі́женець (uk) m (bíženecʹ), бі́женка f (bíženka)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} refugiato
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} penaber (ku), ^{(please verify)} mihacir (ku), ^{(please verify)} miltecî (ku)

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} pabėgėlis
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} ffoadur m

Verb

refugee (third-person singular simple present refugees, present participle refugeeing, simple past and past participle refugeed)

1. (transitive, US, historical) To convey (slaves) away from the advance of the federal forces.

See also

• asylum
• citizenshipless
• countryless
• economic asylum
• nationless
• political asylum
• refoulement
• refuge