expatriate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin expatriō (“to leave one's native country, to banish”), from its past participle,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from ex- (“out of”) and patria (“native land”),^[7][4][5][8] the feminine of patrius (“of a father, paternal”), from pater (“father”).^[2][7] The OED calls the Latin verb late Latin.^[9] Barnhart and Etymonline instead take the English verb as modelled on French expatrier (“to banish”), recorded in French from the 14th century, from patrie (“native land”).^[10][11] The adjective and noun come from the verb, on the model of adjectives from Latin past participles in -ate.^[9][12] The word is related to father, patriot and repatriate.^[11][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to banish or to withdraw from one's native land: 1768, in Sterne's A Sentimental Journey.^[10][2] The OED's first record is from 1787, for the reflexive use "to withdraw from one's native country".^[9]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used reflexively for leaving one's own country, and in the law of nations for renouncing one's citizenship or allegiance;^[9][12] the transitive sense "to drive into exile" is recorded in the OED from 1817.^[9] The adjective, meaning "expatriated", appears in 1812 in a letter of Shelley's,^[9][2] and the noun in 1818, in the Quarterly Review, for a banished person.^[9][10][11] The modern sense of the noun, a person who lives abroad by choice, is recorded from 1902;^[10][11] Barnhart says it was made popular by The Expatriate, a novel by the American writer Lilian Bell about wealthy Americans living in Paris.^[10][11] The Shorter Oxford likewise notes that the noun first meant an exile and now usually a person who has chosen to live abroad,^[12] and the OED records the adjective in the sense "living abroad, especially by choice" from 1957.^[9] The noun expatriation is recorded from 1816, borrowed from French.^[10]

Timeline

• 1768 – verb, to banish or withdraw from one's native land.^[10][2]
• 1787 – reflexive verb, to withdraw from one's country; to renounce one's allegiance.^[9]
• 1812 – adjective, expatriated.^[9][2]
• 1818 – noun, an exiled person.^[9][10]
• 1902 – noun, a person who lives in a foreign country, especially by choice.^[10][11]
• 1957 – adjective, living abroad by choice; of or relating to expatriates.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who lives in a country other than their own, often by choice: a bar popular with British expatriates.^[8][2][12]
2. A person who has been exiled from their country, or who has renounced it.^[8][2][9]

Adjective

1. Living in a foreign country: expatriate engineers on short contracts.^[8][2][9]
2. Exiled or banished from one's native country.^[8][9]

Verb

1. To drive someone out of their native country; to banish.^[8][2][9]
2. To withdraw oneself from one's native country and settle abroad.^[2][9][12]
3. To give up one's citizenship or allegiance, or to deprive someone of theirs.^[8][2][9]

Word family

• expatriation
• expatriatism
• expat

Related words

• repatriate
• patriate
• patriot
• patria
• paternal
• father
• compatriot

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press