diaspora

noun di·as·po·ra \ dī-ˈas-p(ə-)rə , dē- \

|Updated on: 14 Aug 2018

Editor's Note: The Beginnings of the Word diaspora

Definition of diaspora

1 capitalized Judaism

a : the Jews living outside Palestine or modern Israel

members of the Diaspora

b : the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside ancient Palestine after the Babylonian exile

c : the area outside ancient Palestine settled by Jews

2 a : people settled far from their ancestral homelands

members of the African diaspora

b : the place where these people live

c : the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

the black diaspora to northern cities

—

diasporic

play \ˌdī-ə-ˈspȯr-ik\ adjective

See diaspora defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of diaspora from the Web

More than a dozen people of the Asian diaspora will tell their stories, personal and political, through prose, music and other creative media.

— New York Times, "Things to Do in NYC: Astoria for a Pool Day, and Open-Mic Night Plus Dumplings in Chinatown," 12 July 2018
Some 40,000 of them have traveled to Russia, according to the Peru’s Association of Travel Agencies and Tourism, on top of those who flew in from other corners of the Peruvian diaspora.

— joshua robinson, WSJ, "When the U.S. Misses the World Cup, Does It Make a Sound?," 20 June 2018
The arrest sends a powerful signal that Germany, which is now the seat of the Syrian diaspora, will pursue the regime leadership for mass atrocity crimes regardless of Assad’s clinging to power.

— louisa loveluck, Washington Post, "Germany seeks arrest of leading Syrian general on war crimes charges," 8 June 2018
On his trips to foreign countries, the president often takes time to meet members of the Filipino diaspora.

— euan mckirdy, CNN, "Duterte's kiss was 'act of endearment,' spokesman says," 4 June 2018
In recent months a new book in Australia has fuelled debate about the Chinese government’s covert efforts to wield influence there, partly by manipulating members of the large and growing Chinese diaspora.

— The Economist, "Surging numbers of Chinese people going abroad should be welcomed," 17 May 2018
Vocalist and poet Jamila Woods, fiction writer Idrissa Simmonds, and author Mahogany L. Browne have come together to edit Black Girl Magic, an anthology celebrating the works of Black women from all corners of the diaspora.

— eva lewis, Teen Vogue, ""Black Girl Magic" Editor Jamila Woods and Poet Safia Elhillo on Putting a Spotlight on Black Women," 3 May 2018
The Irish Emigration Museum tells the story of the Irish diaspora using interactive displays.

— USA TODAY, "Rick Steves: What’s new in Britain and Ireland for 2018," 3 Mar. 2018
Set in a future, inhabited galaxy, humanity coexists along with thousands of aliens and artificial intelligences in a vast, interstellar diaspora.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "12 fantastic science fiction and fantasy novels that you should check out this July," 1 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'diaspora.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Beginnings of the Word diaspora

Until recently diaspora was thought to be a fairly new word in English to describe a very old thing (its first, and principal, meaning relates to the settling of the Jewish people outside of Palestine after the Babylonian exile thousands of years ago). However, recent research has found that the word is quite a bit older than previously thought. It can be found as far back as 1594, in a translation of Lambert Daneau’s A Fruitfull Commentarie vpon the Twelue Small Prophets: “This scattering abrode of the Iewes, as it were an heauenly sowing, fell out after their returne from the captiuitie of Babylon … they are called Diaspora, that is, a scattering or sowing abrode.” Diaspora is descended from the Greek word diaspeirein, meaning “to scatter, spread about.”