immigrate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin immigrātus (“moved into”),^[2][3][4] the past participle of immigrō (“to go and live in, move into”),^[5][6][7][8] formed from in- (“into”), in the assimilated form im-, and migrō (“to move, depart”), the source of migrate.^[5][2][9][6] Etymonline traces the Latin verb, as probable, to Proto-Indo-European *(e)meigw-, an extended form or a separate root beside Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“to change, go, move”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To come to settle from another country or region: 1623, in H. Cockeram's English Dictionarie.^[5][9][3] Etymonline likewise has the 1620s,^[2] and Dictionary.com 1615–25.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Cockeram's entry is the word's first record, and it is older than immigration (1658, in Phillips's dictionary) and immigrant (1792).^[9] People could immigrate from the early 17th century, Cresswell notes, but emigrate appeared only in the late 18th century.^[10][2] A rare figurative use, to pass into or become part of something, is recorded in 1668.^[5] In the 19th century the word widened to animals and plants moving into an area (1855), to bringing in people as settlers (1866, in the Congressional Globe) and, in physiology, to cells moving from their usual place (1869).^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1623 – to come to settle from another country or region.^[5][9]
• 1668 – figuratively, to pass into something (obsolete).^[5]
• 1855 – of an animal or plant, to migrate into an area.^[5]
• 1866 – transitive, to bring in people as settlers.^[5]
• 1869 – of cells, to move into a different part of the body.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come to live permanently in a country or region of which one is not a native: Her grandparents immigrated to Canada as young adults.^{[6][11][3][5]}
2. Of an animal or plant, to migrate into a new area.^[11][5][8]
3. (physiology) Of a cell, to move to a different part of the body.^[5][3][8]
4. To bring in or introduce people as settlers.^{[6][11][3][5]}

Word family

• immigration
• immigrational
• immigrator
• immigrant

Related words

• migrate
• emigrate
• migration
• migrant

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary (1897), quoted by Etymonline, distinguishes three verbs: migrate stresses the change of home, usually not permanent, emigrate views the person as leaving an old home, and immigrate as arriving at the new one.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins