The English word migration derives from the Latin verb migrare, meaning "to move from one place to another." Migration may mean either a temporary or a permanent change of residence by one person or by a group of people.

Two other words associated with migration are "emigrant" and "immigrant." An emigrant is someone who leaves one place for another. An immigrant is a person who comes into one country from another. Thus, a person who migrates to the United States from England is an emigrant from England and an immigrant to the United States.

The word migrant is used to refer to someone who regularly moves from place to place looking for work. A migrant farm worker, for instance, may live on one farm after another during the harvest season; once the crops are harvested, he will probably return to a home base until the next season.

Another type of wandering from place to place is called "nomadism." Nomads, who generally live in groups, have no fixed residence. Their wanderings are normally caused by economic necessity, such as the need to move herds of animals from one region to another in search of fresh grazing. Nomads usually move within a fairly restricted area. They may, in fact, make a circuit, coming back to the same places year after year. In this sense, nomadism is similar to the life-style of migrant workers.

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