refugee English · revision 10769

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1685|origins=fr réfugié}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˌref.jʊˈdʒiː/, US /ˈref.jʊ.dʒi/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|réfugié|t=gone in search of refuge]], the past participle of (se) réfugier, to take refuge,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from refuge, Latin refugium, a place to flee back to (see [[refuge]]),^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from re-, back, and fugere, to flee (see [[fugitive]]).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One who flees to a foreign country to escape religious persecution or political trouble: 1685 in the OED, the 1680s in Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster gives 1671.^(MWU 2024) It was first applied to the French Huguenots who fled after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word meant one seeking asylum until 1914, when it came to mean one fleeing home, first of civilians in Flanders escaping the fighting of World War I.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A runaway or fugitive from justice is a rare sense of 1760–72.^(OED 1989) Australian slang of World War II shortened it to ''reffo''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1671 – refugee.^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1685 – a Huguenot refugee.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1914 – one driven from home by war.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who has fled from [[war]], [[persecution]] or disaster, especially to another country.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[refugeeism]]

+ * [[reffo]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[refuge]]

+ * [[fugitive]]

+ * [[centrifugal]]

+ * [[subterfuge]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}