Meanings
nounboat people pl (normally plural, singular boat person)
singular boat person
- historicalpluralplural normallyRefugees fleeing by sea, particularly those fleeing from South Vietnam during the 1970s and '80s.
Indochinese refugees, known throughout the world as the “boat people,” were subject to horrific suffering and dangers when the Vietnamese government began expelling them after the fall of Saigon.
2010, Walter Mondale, David Hage, The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics, Scribner, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 184e - pluralplural normallyplural of boat person
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 船民, 蜑家
- 船民 (chuánmín)refugees fleeing by sea
- 蜑家 (dànjiā)ethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats
- 疍家 (dànjiā)ethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats
Finnish venepakolaiset, venekansa
- venepakolaisetrefugees fleeing by sea
- venekansaethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats
German Bootsflüchtlinge, Boatpeople
- Bootsflüchtlingerefugees fleeing by sea
- Boatpeoplerefugees fleeing by sea
- Schiffsvolkethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats
- Bootmenschenethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats
Russian «лю́ди с ло́дки»
- «лю́ди с ло́дки»refugees fleeing by sea
Vietnamese người thuyền nhân
- người thuyền nhânrefugees fleeing by sea
Cite this entry
APA
boat people. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boat%20people
MLA
“boat people.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boat%20people. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boat people,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boat%20people.
Source: boat people on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.