rex-pat

English

Etymology

Blend of repeat +‎ expat. Attributed to Alan Levy, an expatriate who edited The Prague Post from 1990 until his death in 2004.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

rex-pat (plural rex-pats)

1. (US, informal) A repeat expatriate; one who becomes expatriated again.
   • 2004, Alan Levy, in the film Rex-patriates, and quoted by The Prague Post: What's a Rex-pat[1]:

     A rex-pat is a returning expatriate, an ex-pat has been here, goes home to America, takes a job, maybe goes to law school, maybe does well in America but can't get Prague out of his or her blood and returns to Prague to live again.

   • ca. 2007, Phylis Gardner The Prague Post: What's a Rex-pat[2]:

     Well what Levy calls rex-pats are nothing more than expats who went home and simply couldn't make it. The failures in question return to Prague because the city allows them to live in a sort of perpetual adolescence. In my research I've discovered that something like 28% of all Prague ex-pats who leave the city return within two years, a terrifying statistic.

Alternative forms

• rex-patriate

Anagrams

• pre-tax, pretax