Etymologically
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refuge

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 13:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈref.juːdʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English refuge, borrowed from Old French refuge (“hiding place”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Latin refugium (“a taking refuge, place to flee back to”), from re- (“back”) and fugiō (“to flee”) (see fugitive).[2][3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Shelter or protection from danger: about 1385, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in Barnhart; about 1386 in the OED.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A person or thing that gives shelter or comfort is from about 1430,[7] and a place of safety from the 15th century.[7] To take refuge is from the 1690s.[3] By the late 19th century it was especially a temporary shelter for the homeless,[3] and a traffic island for pedestrians is a refuge from 1869.[7] A mountain hut for climbers is from 1817.[7] The verb, to give refuge, is from the 1590s, and is now rare.[3] Refugee is from 1685, from French réfugié.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1385 – shelter, protection.[2]
  • c. 1430 – a protector.[7]
  • 1590s – to refuge (verb).[3]
  • 1685 – refugee.[2]
  • 1690s – to take refuge.[3]
  • 1869 – a traffic island.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Shelter or protection from danger or hardship.
  2. A place that gives shelter or protection; a sanctuary.
  3. A source of help, relief or comfort.
  4. (British) A traffic island.

Verb

  1. (archaic) To give refuge to, or to take refuge.

Word family

  • fugitive
  • subterfuge
  • centrifugal

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press