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

There is now a diaspora of Ukrainian entrepreneurs not only in Poland and the Baltic States but in the U.K. and elsewhere. —Trevor Clawson, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024

The African diaspora dance curriculum and nonprofit organization has reached 50,000 underserved elementary school students across L.A. and Orange counties over the last 10 years. —Sonaiya Kelley, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 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