Etymologically
Log in

réfugié

Etymology and origin of the French word réfugié

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1432
Ultimate origin
Latin (fugiō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French réfugié
English refugee

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁe.fy.ʒje/[1]

Forms

réfugié m (plural réfugiés, feminine réfugiée)[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of réfugier, used as an adjective and a noun.[2][3][4] The verb is derived from refuge, shaped after the Latin form refugium (“refuge, asylum”);[5][6] refuge was borrowed from that word about 1120, while Old French mostly used the popular form refui.[7][5] Latin refugium comes from refugiō (“to flee back, seek shelter”), formed from re- (“back”) and fugiō (“to flee”).[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participle is first found as an adjective in 1432, for a person forced to leave a place to escape persecution, danger or a sentence;[7][3] the TLFi and the Petit Robert date it to 1435, in the archives of Brittany.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It was used as a noun with the same sense from 1573.[7][4] In the plural, les réfugiés were especially the French Protestants who went into exile after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (recorded by the Académie in 1740).[7][3] The modern sense, a person who has left their country for political, religious or racial reasons, appears in the Bulletin des lois in 1832.[7][3]

English took refugee from the French word in the 1680s, first for the Huguenots who fled France after the revocation of 1685; from 1914 it was used of civilians fleeing fighting in Flanders.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Refuge is borrowed from Latin.[7]
  • 1432 – Réfugié is first used as an adjective.[7][3]
  • 1573 – Used as a noun.[7][4]
  • 1680s – English borrows it as refugee, of the Huguenots.[8]
  • 1740 – The Académie records réfugiés for exiled Protestants.[3]
  • 1832 – The Bulletin des lois uses it in its modern legal sense.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A refugee, a person who has had to flee their country or region to escape persecution, war or another danger: aide aux réfugiés, réfugié politique.[4][2]
  2. (historical, plural) The French Protestants who went into exile after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.[3]

Adjective

  1. Having taken refuge outside one's country or region: des révolutionnaires réfugiés.[4][2]
  • réfugier
  • refuge
  • fuir
  • Latin refugium
  • English refugee

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Réfugié.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/r%C3%A9fugi%C3%A9. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·