emigrant

An emigrant is a person who has emigrated or is emigrating—permanently leaving home in one country or region to settle in another.

The act or occurrence of emigrating is called emigration.

What’s the difference between emigrant, immigrant, and migrant?

A migrant is a person who moves from one place to another (and perhaps back and forth). An emigrant is someone who moves away, while an immigrant is someone who moves in. For this reason, the word emigrant is often followed by from and the home country, whereas immigrant is often followed by to and the destination country.

Of course, emigrant and immigrant often refer to the same person—people who are emigrating are also immigrating (if they leave, they have to go somewhere).

But there are good reasons to use each word in different situations. For example, one country may be a common destination for immigrants, while another may experience the frequent departure of emigrants.

The words migrant and immigrant are more likely to be used to describe such relocation in a general way (that is, a way that takes both the starting point and the destination into account), whereas emigrant is almost always used in reference to the place that has been left.

Less commonly, emigrant can be used as an adjective to mean in the process of emigrating, as in emigrant peoples. 

Another word for an emigrant is émigré, which especially refers to an emigrant who has fled their country due to political conditions.

Example: The lack of employment has caused a significant number of emigrants  to leave the country in search of jobs.

The first records of the verb emigrant come from around 1750. It was first used in the United States. It comes from the Latin ēmīgrāns, meaning “moving away.” This word derives from the Latin verb ēmīgrāre, from mīgrāre, meaning “to depart” or “to move from place to place.” The e– part means “out of” or “from.” (In immigrant, the im- part means “in” or “into.”)

The word emigrant typically implies movement out of one country into another (as opposed to movement out of a city or state into another one in the same country). Most countries track statistics about such movement, especially in relation to how it may affect their economies. Although emigrate implies a permanent departure, a person may be an emigrant again and again until they settle in some place.

What are some other forms related to emigrant?

• emigrate (verb)
• emigration (noun)

What are some synonyms for emigrant?

• émigré

What are some words that share a root or word element with emigrant? 

• migration
• immigration

What are some words that often get used in discussing emigrant?

• depart
• leave
• home
• country
• nation
• refugee
• journey
• population
• citizenship

What are some words emigrant may be commonly confused with?

• immigrant
• migrant

Emigrants are often discussed in the context of history and economics. The word emigrant is somewhat less commonly used than immigrant and migrant, since those two can be used more generally.

The number of emigrants from sub-Saharan countries grew by 50% or more between 2010 and 2017, significantly more than the 17% worldwide average increase for the same period https://t.co/aIHHXU6MR1 pic.twitter.com/gMsPtUmtzr

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) February 28, 2018

Next time someone says "Britain has too many immigrants", show them this. Over the long run, Britain has exported far more people than it has imported. Since 1855 there have been 36m immigrants *to* Britain but 45m emigrants *from* Britain. Long-run net migration from UK of -9m. pic.twitter.com/E7OUbtbzYa

— Callum Williams (@econcallum) April 17, 2018

As an emigrant I find these small, simple plaques very moving. These two are on the mainland, facing the tiny islands on which these two Connemara women were born. Margaret went to northern England, Maureen to the USA. What stories lie behind them? pic.twitter.com/zOb2OVMTDU

— Ireland / Mark (@ireland) November 23, 2019

Which of the following people would be the primary subjects of a study of emigrants from Germany to France?

A. People who have left France to live in Germany
B. People who have left Germany to live in France
C. People who move back and forth between Germany and France
D. People who have left Germany to vacation in France