diaspora

noun

di·​as·​po·​ra dī-ˈa-sp(ə-)rə 

dē-

1

capitalized, Judaism

a

: the Jews living outside Israel

members of the Diaspora

b

: the settling of scattered communities 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

ˌdī-ə-ˈspȯr-ik 

adjective

Did you know?

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.”

Examples of diaspora in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The club also lacks the wide diaspora that rivals like Bayern or Borussia Dortmund have, and so does not intrude on the national consciousness quite so much as others. —Christopher F. Schuetze, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024

The forum will look at Haiti’s economy and the ways the diaspora can help, as well as how to leverage its political clout in the United States to effect change back home. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Greek, dispersion, from diaspeirein to scatter, from dia- + speirein to sow

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1b