yacht person

noun

A wealthy émigré from Hong Kong who fled the handover of the colony back to China in 1997, taking their wealth with them to settle elsewhere in the Anglosphere and establish close-knit expatriate communities.

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Meanings

nounyacht person (plural yacht people)

plural yacht people

  1. historicalin pluralA wealthy émigré from Hong Kong who fled the handover of the colony back to China in 1997, taking their wealth with them to settle elsewhere in the Anglosphere and establish close-knit expatriate communities.

    As the 1997 deadline approaches, it is expected that more money and immigrants from Hong Kong, particularly "yacht people" (wealthy refugees), will enter Canada, and more New Chinatowns will emerge.

    2011, David Chuenyan Lai, Chinatowns: Towns within Cities in Canada, page 284
  2. alternativeAlternative form of yachtsperson.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
yachter

Origin

(émigré from Hong Kong): Modelled on boat people.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

yacht person. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yacht%20person

MLA

“yacht person.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yacht%20person. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yacht person,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yacht%20person.

Source: yacht person on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.