refugee
/ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/noun, verb
refugee is spelled R-E-F-U-G-E-E: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, refugee means “A person seeking refuge (as for shelter or protection), especially in a foreign country, out of fear or prospect of political, religious persecution…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of refugee is refugees.
How many letters and syllables are in refugee?
| Letters | 7: R-E-F-U-G-E-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is refugee?
Refugee appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce refugee?
- /ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/
- /ɹɛfjʊˈd͡ʒiː/
Refugee has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-refugee.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of refugee
- refugees plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- refugeeing participle, present
- refugeed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does refugee mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person seeking refuge (as for shelter or protection), especially in a foreign country, out of fear or prospect of political, religious persecution, war, natural disaster, etc.
- 2
derogatoryA person who is fleeing from justice, punishment deemed righteous, etc.; a runaway, a fugitive.
verb
- 1
USTo convey (slaves) away from the advance of the federal forces.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Refugee in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | réfugié, réfugiée |
| German | Flüchtling, Flüchtlingin, Asylant, Asylantin, Asylbewerber, Asylbewerberin |
| Portuguese | refugiado, refugiada , expatriado , desabrigado , asilado |
| Spanish | refugiado, refugiada |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does refugee come from?
From French réfugié, past participle of réfugier (“to take refuge, to seek refuge”), from Old French refuge (“hiding place”) from Latin refugium (“a place of refuge, place to flee back to”), originally describing French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Noun sense 1 was "one seeking asylum" until 1914, when it evolved to mean more generally "one fleeing home" (first applied in this sense to civilians in Flanders heading west to escape fighting in World War I). By surface analysis, refuge + -ee. Displaced native Old English flīema.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).