Asylees

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals seeking refuge or protection from persecution in their home country
2. people who apply for sanctuary from violence or oppression in another nation
3. those who are granted permission to reside in a foreign land due to fear of harm in their birthplace

Etymology: "Asylees" is the plural of "asylee," a noun formed by attaching the suffix "-ee" to "asylum." The "-ee" ending is a long-established English suffix that marks the person who receives an action, as in "employee" or "refugee," so an asylee is literally one who has been granted asylum. The base word goes back to Greek "asylon," meaning a place that could not be seized or violated, formed from "a-" (not) and "sylon" (right of seizure). In ancient Greece, temples and sacred sites offered sanctuary to fugitives, and the word named that protected space. Latin later borrowed it as "asylum," and English adopted it with the same sense of a safe refuge.

Synonyms: refugees, seekers, immigrants