'Refugee' entered English in 1685 for Huguenots fleeing persecution — from Latin 'refugere' (to flee back).
A person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
From French 'réfugié,' the past participle of 'réfugier' (to take refuge, to shelter oneself), from Latin 'refugium' (a place of refuge, a shelter from danger), from 'refugere' (to flee back, to escape by fleeing), composed of 're-' (back, away from) + 'fugere' (to flee, to fly from danger), from PIE *bʰewg- (to flee, to run from). The word entered English in 1685 with a specific historical referent: the Huguenots who fled France after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, stripping Protestants of their legal protections. This origin anchors 'refugee' to a precise political event, giving the word from its first moment in English the meaning
The word was coined for a specific historical moment: the mass exodus of roughly 200,000 French Huguenots after Louis XIV's 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. These 'réfugiés' transformed the economies of their host countries — they brought silk-weaving to Spitalfields in London, watchmaking to Geneva, and glassmaking to Brandenburg.