Emigration
/ˌɛmɪˈɡreɪʃən/noun
The act of leaving one country or region to live in another.
Did you know?Emigration comes from Latin roots meaning “to move out,” and its core *migrare* family also gave English words like migrate and migrant, all built on the ancient idea of crossing from one state or place into another.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*meiĝ-
“to change, go, move”
Latin
Latin
migrare
“to move from one place to another”
Late Latin
Latin
emigrāre
“to move out, depart”
16th Century
English
emigracion
“the act of leaving one country or place”
Modern English
English
emigration
“the act of leaving one country or region to live elsewhere”
Explore more surprising origins