This article is about the term. For the type foundry, see Emigre.

Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out," but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile.

In historical context, the word may particularly refer to:

1. A French refugee, often aristocratic, who fled the Revolution of 1789 and its aftermath
2. A White Russian, who fled the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath

Whereas emigrants have likely chosen to leave one place and become immigrants in a different clime, not usually expecting to return, émigrés see exile as a temporary expedient forced on them by political circumstances. Émigré circles often arouse suspicion as breeding-grounds for plots and counter-revolution.

Some of the aristocrats who left France during the revolution settled in bordering countries, which they sought to use as a base for counterrevolution. Among the most important of their number was the king’s younger brother, the count of Artois, later Charles X of France. In the summer of 1791, his agents and Queen Marie Antoinette persuaded Louis XVI to attempt to flee the country in what became the ill-fated flight to Varennes.

The October Revolution brought over 20,000 Russian emigrants to Finland. Many of these however moved on to France, Paris being the favorite destination for Russian émigrés.

See also: refugee, deportee

French Revolution | Russian Revolution | Émigré