refugee

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From French réfugié, past participle of réfugier (“to take refuge”), describing early French Protestants seeking refuge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛfjʊdʒiː/, /ɹɛfjʊˈdʒiː/
• 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.
2. A person seeking refuge due to a natural disaster, war, etc.
3. A person formally granted political or economic asylum by a country other than their home country.

Derived terms

• rapefugee
• reffo
• refugeehood
• refugitive

Translations

person seeking political asylum

• Arabic: لَاجِئ m (lājiʔ)
• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Assamese: শৰণাৰ্থী (xoronarthi)
• Azerbaijani: qaçqın (az)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Belarusian: уце́кач m (ucjékač)
• Bengali: রণার্থী (ronarthi)
• Bulgarian: бежанец (bg) m (bežanec)
• Burmese: ဒုက္ခသည် (my) (dukhka.sany)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m, refugiada (ca) f
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

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

• Crimean Tatar: qaçaq
• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m, uprchlice (cs) f
• Danish: flygtning (da)
• Dinka: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: vluchteling (nl) m
• Esperanto: rifuĝinto (male or female), rifuĝintino (female)
• Estonian: pagulane
• 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 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
• 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)
• Khmer: ជនភៀសខ្លួន (cɔɔn pʰiəh kluən)
• Korean: 난민 (ko) (nanmin) (難民)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پەنابەر (penaber)

• Lao: ຜູ້ລີ້ໄພ (phū lī phai)
• Latin: profugus m
• Latvian: bēglis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: pabėgėlis m
• Macedonian: бегалец (begalec)
• Malay: pelari
• Maori: konene
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Old English: flīema m
• Persian: پناهنده (fa) (panâhande)
• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m, uchodźczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: refugiado (pt) m, refugiada f
• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romansch: fugitiv
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec), бе́женка (ru) f (béženka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: избеглица m, избjеглица m

  Roman: izbeglica (sh) m, izbjeglica m

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: utečenec m, utečenkyňa f
• Slovene: begunec (sl) m, 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)
• Thai: ผู้ลี้ภัย (pûu-líi-pai)
• Tibetan: བཙན་བྱོལ་བ (btsan byol ba)
• Turkish: sığınmacı (tr), mülteci (tr), göçmen (tr)
• Ukrainian: бі́женець (uk) m (bíženecʹ)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: פּליט m (polet)

person seeking economic asylum

• Arabic: لَاجِئ m (lājiʔ)
• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• 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), 难民 (zh) (nànmín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Dinka: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• French: réfugié (fr) m
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 難民 (ja) (なんみん, nanmin)
• Latin: profugus m
• Malay: pelari
• Maori: konene
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Portuguese: expatriado (pt) m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec)
• Slovene: begunec (sl)
• Spanish: refugiado (es) m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Turkish: mülteci (tr), göçmen (tr)

person seeking refuge from natural disaster

• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Burmese: ဒုက္ခသည် (my) (dukhka.sany)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 災民／灾民 (zh) (zāimín), 灾民 (zh) (zāimín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• Georgian: ლტოლვილი (lṭolvili)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• Indonesian: pengungsi (id)
• Malay: pelari
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: konene
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flyktning (no) m

  Nynorsk: flyktning m

• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m
• Portuguese: desabrigado m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Slovene: begunec (sl), pribežnik m, pribežnica f
• Spanish: refugiado (es) m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Turkish: mülteci (tr), sığınmacı (tr), göçmen (tr)

person granted formal asylum

• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 難民／难民 (zh) (nànmín), 难民 (zh) (nànmín)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m
• Finnish: pakolainen (fi)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Hungarian: menekült (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: pelari
• Maori: konene
• Polish: uchodźca (pl) m
• Portuguese: asilado m
• Russian: бе́женец (ru) m (béženec)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Swahili: mkimbizi (sw)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can

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: , ,
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} pabėgėlis
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} അഭയാർത്ഥി (abhayāṟtthi) (1,2,3,4)
• 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