Immigrant vs. Emigrant?

That person will be considered an emigrant in Italy and an immigrant in US. um…i think? shit. now you have me confused :P

@sfndr; a good example of one you could have checked for yourself. http://dictionary.reference.com/

PnL; you are such a softy.

yes, in future, such Qs are best directed to dictionary site :). and i just checked the one linked by gail, it explains it well !

Emigrant means to have been moved from one place to another to live. Immigrant means to have moved in from another place.

When you move from one country to another, you’re both an immigrant and an emigré.

In- is the Latin prefix for moving into something, ex- is the Latin prefix for moving out of something. So in + migrant turns into immigrant, someone who migrates in; ex + migrant, filtered through French, turns into emigré, someone who migrates out.

To make it even more simplistic, a teacher once gave me this hint: Immigrant starts with an “I”, hence think “in”. If someone is an immigrant, that means they’re coming into a country. Emigrant starts with an “E”, hence thing “exit”. They exit, or are an emigrant from another country.

Immigrant – in
Emigrant – out