remittance person
- noun
- /rɪˈmɪtəns ˈpɜrsən/
- Archaic
:
remesador
- The wealthy family treated their troublesome son as a remittance person, sending him to Canada with a stipend.
Examples
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Many colonies had more than a few remittance persons living quietly on their allowance from England.
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He became a remittance person in Australia after disgracing himself at home.
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My uncle is a remittance person living in Canada.
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Many remittance persons rely on their families for support.
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He is a remittance person in Spain, receiving monthly payments from his family back home.
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Several remittance persons from our country live in the United States, supported by their relatives who send money regularly.
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As a remittance person in Australia, she depends on the funds her family sends to pay her bills.
Synonyms
A man who lives abroad, getting regular money from his family and often sent away by them
A woman who lives abroad and gets regular money from a family that did not accept her
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'remittance' (money sent) and 'person' (a human) make it clear the phrase refers to someone connected with remittances, so a B1 learner would likely infer a general link to money transfers. However, the exact sense in the provided definition — a supported exile/recipient or culturally specific practice of keeping someone away — and even whether the person is sender or receiver are not predictable from the constituents alone, and the collocation is non-standard, so the transparency is only partial.
Etymology
Remittance person comes from families who sent regular money, or remittances, to a relative who was sent away to live in another country. The picture of someone kept and paid from home explains why it now means 'a person living abroad who is supported by regular payments from their home country'.
