Migration
/maɪˈɡreɪ.ʃən/noun
The movement of people or animals from one place to another, often seasonally or permanently.
Did you know?Migration comes from Latin migrātiō, from migrāre, and the same ancient PIE root also gave us words like migrant, emigrate, and immigrate — all built around the primal idea of changing place.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*meiǵʰ-
“to change, move, or change place”
Latin
Latin
migrāre
“to move from one place to another; to depart”
Classical Latin
Latin
migrātiō
“a moving away, removal, migration”
Old French
Old French
migration
“migration, removal, departure”
Late Middle English
English
migration
“the act of moving from one place to another”
Modern English
English
migration
“the movement of people or animals from one region to another”
Explore more surprising origins