refugee

English

English Wikipedia has articles on:

refugee (disambiguation) and Refugee

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, 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.
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.
- 2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49:
  My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return.
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.

Synonyms

flightling

Derived terms

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, profugo (it)
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)

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