Migrate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /maɪˈɡɹeɪt/

Definitions

1. To relocate from one area to another, often for seasonal reasons, while also referring to the transfer of data or systems between different environments or platforms
2. To move from one place to another, often seasonally or periodically ; to shift data, software, or systems from one environment to a different one
3. The act of changing location, commonly for purposes like climate or breeding ; the process of changing computing platforms or data storage environments

Etymology: Latin "migrare" meant to change one's residence or to move from one place to another, and English borrowed its past participle, "migrātus", as the verb we use today. The first recorded English use dates to 1623, which places the word in the early Stuart period, a time when English writers were reaching back to Latin for precise terms of movement and change. The Latin verb itself was broad. It could describe people relocating, but also transporting goods or shifting one's allegiance, so the core idea was simply going from one state or place to another. English narrowed that to the movement of people or animals from one region or home to another, and later to the regular, seasonal travel of birds and fish. The suffix "-ate", which turns a noun or stem into a verb, is the same one found in words like "orientate" and "calculate", and it is what gives "migrate" its verb form.

Synonyms: move, relocate

Antonyms: stay, remain