asylum

English

Etymology

From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˈsaɪləm/

Noun

asylum (plural asylums or asyla)

1. A place of safety.
2. The protection, physical and legal, afforded by such a place.
3. (dated) A place of protection or restraint for one or more classes of the disadvantaged, especially the mentally ill.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

Synonyms

• sanctuary
• shelter

Derived terms

Derived terms

• asylee
• asylum seeker
• insane asylum

• mental asylum
• orphan asylum

Translations

place of safety

• Albanian: azil (sq) m
• Arabic: مَلْجَأ m (maljaʔ), مَوْئِل (ar) m (mawʔil)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَلْجَأ m (maljaʼ)

• Armenian: ապաստան (hy) (apastan)
• Azerbaijani: pənah, sığınacaq
• Belarusian: прыту́лак m (prytúlak)
• Bulgarian: убе́жище (bg) n (ubéžište)
• Catalan: asil (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 庇護／庇护 (zh), 庇护 (zh) (bìhù), 避難所／避难所 (zh) (bìnànsuǒ), 避难所 (zh) (bìnànsuǒ)

• Czech: útočiště (cs) n, azyl (cs) m
• Danish: asyl (da) n
• Dutch: asiel (nl) n
• Esperanto: azilo
• Estonian: varjupaik
• Finnish: turvapaikka (fi)
• French: asile (fr) m
• Galician: asilo (gl) m
• Georgian: თავშესაფარი (tavšesapari)
• German: Asyl (de) m
• Greek: άσυλο (el) (ásylo)

  Ancient Greek: ἄσυλον n (ásulon)

• Hebrew: הקדש (hekdeish), מדיני (he)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: menhely (hu), menedékhely (hu)
• Indonesian: asilum, suaka (id), perlindungan
• Interlingue:
• Italian: asilo (it) m
• Japanese: アジール (ajīru), アサイラム (asairamu), 避難所 (hinanjo), 養護施設 (yōgo sisetsu)
• Kazakh: баспана (baspana), бассауға (bassauğa), пана (pana)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: បដិសរណដ្ឋាន (km) (pa’de’sa’ra’nattʰaan), ទីជ្រកកោន (tii crɔɔk kaon)
• Korean: 망명 (ko) (mangmyeong), 피난처 (ko) (pinancheo)
• Kyrgyz: башкалка (başkalka)
• Latvian: patvērums m
• Lithuanian: prieglauda f, prieglobstis m
• Macedonian: уточиште n (utočište), азил m (azil)
• Maltese: refuġju
• Maori: piringa
• Norwegian: asyl c
• Occitan: asil m
• Persian: پناه (fa) (panâh), پناه گاه (fa) (panâh gâh)
• Polish: azyl (pl) m, przytułek (pl) m
• Portuguese: asilo (pt) m
• Romanian: azil (ro) n, adăpost (ro) n, sanctuar (ro) n
• Russian: убе́жище (ru) n (ubéžišče), прибе́жище (ru) n (pribéžišče), приста́нище (ru) n (pristánišče), прию́т (ru) m (prijút)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: азил m, уточиште n

  Roman: azil (sh) m, utočište (sh) n

• Slovak: azyl m, útočište n
• Slovene: azil (sl) m
• Spanish: asilo (es) m, santuario (es) m
• Swedish: asyl (sv) c
• Tagalog: kalingaan
• Tajik: паноҳгоҳ (panohgoh), паноҳ (panoh)
• Turkish: sığınak (tr), iltica (tr)
• Turkmen: gaçybatalga
• Ukrainian: приту́лок (uk) m (prytúlok)
• Uzbek: boshpana (uz), joy (uz), panoh (uz)
• Vietnamese: viện cứu tế

mental asylum

• Arabic: لُجُوء m (lujūʔ)
• Belarusian: псыхіятры́чны шпіта́ль f (psyxijatrýčny špitálʹ), вар’я́цкі дом m (varʺjácki dom)
• Bulgarian: лудница f (ludnica)
• Dutch: psychiatrische instelling f
• Finnish: mielisairaala (fi)
• French: asile psychiatrique m
• German: psychiatrische Anstalt f
• Hungarian: elmegyógyintézet (hu)
• Interlingue: ,
• Irish: gealtlann f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: manicomio (it) m
• Macedonian: лудница f (ludnica)
• Maltese: manikomju
• Maori: hōhipera mate hinengaro
• Polish: szpital psychiatryczny (pl) f, dom obłąkanych f
• Portuguese: manicómio (pt) m (Portugal), manicômio (pt) m (Brazil), hospício (pt) (Brazil)
• Romanian: azil (ro) n
• Russian: психиатри́ческая лече́бница f (psixiatríčeskaja lečébnica), психиатри́ческая больни́ца (ru) f (psixiatríčeskaja bolʹníca), психбольни́ца (ru) f (psixbolʹníca), психу́шка (ru) f (psixúška) (colloquial), сумаше́дший дом f (sumašédšij dom) (colloquial), дурдо́м (ru) m (durdóm) (pejorative)
• Spanish: manicomio (es) m
• Ukrainian: психіатри́чна ліка́рня f (psyxiatrýčna likárnja), божеві́льня (uk) m (boževílʹnja)

right of asylum — see right of asylum

See also

• refugee

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈsyː.lum/, [äˈs̠yːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈsi.lum/, [äˈs̬iːlum]

Noun

asȳlum n (genitive asȳlī); second declension

1. asylum (place of refuge), sanctuary

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	asȳlum	asȳla
Genitive	asȳlī	asȳlōrum
Dative	asȳlō	asȳlīs
Accusative	asȳlum	asȳla
Ablative	asȳlō	asȳlīs
Vocative	asȳlum	asȳla

Descendants

• English: asylum
• French: asile
• Italian: asilo
• Portuguese: asilo
• Spanish: asilo

References

• “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• asylum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “asylum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “asylum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
• “asylum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin