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)

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, Kennedy, John F., A Nation of Immigrants‎, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, LCCN 64-7830, OCLC 899031989, 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.
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, 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.
A person formally granted political or economic asylum by a country other than their home country.
(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.

Derived terms

rapefugee
reffo
refugeehood
refugitive

Translations

person seeking political asylum

Arabic: لَاجِئ‎ m (lājiʾ), لَاجِئَة‎ f (lājiʾa)
Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʿaxstakan)
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) (śôrôṇarthī)
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)
Mandarin: (政治 zhèngzhì) 難民／难民 (zh) (nànmín), 避難者／避难者 (bìnànzhě)
Min Nan: 難民 (zh-min-nan), 难民 (lān-bîn)
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 (ku) (penaber)
Northern Kurdish: penaber (ku)
Kyrgyz: качкын (ky) (kaçkın)
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
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: پناهنده‎ (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
Yiddish: פּליט‎ m (polet), בעזשענעץ‎ m (bezhenets)

person seeking economic asylum

Arabic: لَاجِئ‎ m (lājiʾ)
Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʿaxstakan)
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
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) (pʿaxstakan)
Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
Bulgarian: бежане́ц (bg) m (bežanéc)
Burmese: ဒုက္ခသည် (my) (dukhka.sany)
Catalan: refugiat (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 災民／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 (ms)
Maori: konene
Malayalam: അഭയാർത്ഥി (ml) (abhayāṟtthi)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: flyktning (no) m
Nynorsk: flyktning m
Persian: فراری‎ (fa) (farâri)
Polish: uchodźca (pl) m
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)
Vietnamese: người tị nạn, người tỵ nạn, tị nạn (vi), tỵ nạn

person granted formal asylum

Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʿaxstakan)
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 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

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)

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