移民 meaning in English

yímín

to immigrate; to migrate

HSK 4verbnoun16 strokes

Meaning of 移民

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

yímín

to immigrate
to migrate
emigrant
immigrant

How to use 移民

移民 works as a verb (to immigrate or emigrate) and as a noun (an immigrant or emigrant, or immigration in general). To say where someone moved, use 移民到 plus the place. Example: 他们十年前移民到了加拿大。 (Tāmen shí nián qián yímín dào le Jiānádà.) They immigrated to Canada ten years ago.

移 (yí) means to move or shift, and 民 (mín) means people, the same 民 you see in 人民 (rénmín). Put them together: people who move from one place to live in another.

Common mistake: Learners often say 移民在美国 to mean "immigrated to the US", but the destination needs 到 or 去: 移民到美国 or 移民去美国. Also watch the tones: both syllables are second tone, yí mín, not yì mín.

移民 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

你nǐ何hé时shí移yí民mín到dào我wǒ们men国guó家jiā?

When did you immigrate to our country?

美měi国guó是shì一yí个gè移yí民mín国guó家jiā。

America is a land of immigrants.

许xǔ多duō移yí民mín改gǎi了le名míng字zì。

Many of the immigrants changed their names.

移yí民mín们men忍rěn受shòu着zhe肉ròu体tǐ和hé精jīng神shén的de痛tòng苦kǔ。

The emigrants have endured physical and mental pain.

移yí民mín川chuān流liú不bù息xī地dì进jìn入rù这zhè个ge国guó家jiā。

The immigrants entered the country in a steady flow.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

移 yí · to move · 11 strokes

民 mín · citizens · 5 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 移民.

人民	rénmín	the people
公民	gōngmín	citizen
农民	nóngmín	peasant; farmer
民族	mínzú	nationality; ethnic group
民间	mínjiān	among the people; popular
人民币	rénmínbì	Renminbi, the official currency of the PRC (currency codes: RMB or CNY)
中华民族	Zhōnghuá Mínzú	the Chinese nation; the Chinese people (collective reference to all the ethnic groups in C
移动	yídòng	to move; movement
转移	zhuǎnyí	to shift; to relocate; to transfer; (fig.) to shift (attention); to change (the subject et
居民	jūmín	resident; inhabitant
国民	guómín	nationals; citizens
市民	shìmín	city resident; townspeople

Questions about 移民

What does 移民 mean?

移民 (yímín) means "to immigrate; to migrate" and is used as a verb and noun.

How do you write 移民?

移民 is made of 2 characters: 移 (11 strokes), 民 (5 strokes). That is 16 strokes in total.

Is 移民 an HSK word?

Yes. 移民 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

Does 移民 mean immigrate or emigrate?

Both. Chinese does not split the idea the way English does, so context tells you the direction. If you need to be precise, you can say 移民到 (moving in) or 从中国移民 (moving out of China).

How do I say "an immigrant" as a person?

You can simply say 移民, as in 他是移民 (Tā shì yímín), "He is an immigrant." For a group, 新移民 (xīn yímín) means new immigrants. 移民局 (yímínjú) is the immigration office.