immigrate
Meaning
to come to live permanently in a foreign country.
Structure
Usage
my grandparents decided to immigrate to canada in the 1950s.
to immigrate legally, one must often apply for a visa and residency permit.
many people immigrate in search of better economic opportunities.
Etymology
the word 'immigrate' is built upon the latin verb 'migrare', which means 'to move, to change one's place of residence'. the prefix 'im-' is an assimilated form of the latin preposition 'in', signifying 'into' or 'towards'. thus, the literal construction is 'to move into'. this term was adopted into english in the early 17th century to specifically denote the act of entering a foreign country to settle there permanently, distinguishing it from the more general 'migrate'. the semantic logic directly follows the components: moving (migrate) into (im-) a new land.
Analysis
im- is a latin prefix meaning 'in, into'. migrate is from the latin verb 'migrare', meaning 'to move from one place to another'.