brain drain

English

Etymology

Coined by spokesmen for the Royal Society of London in the early 1950s to describe the outflow of scientists and technologists to the United States and Canada.

Pronunciation

• enPR: brānʹ-drān

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

brain drain (plural brain drains)

1. (idiomatic) The migration of educated or talented people from less economically advanced areas to more economically advanced areas, especially to large cities or more developed nations.

   Antonym: brain gain

   • 1955, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Proceedings, Issues 6-12, page 60:

     Fortunately, the often-discussed problem of "the brain drain" is not as serious in agriculture as in most other fields, particularly the "hard sciences."

   • 2023 October 4, Philip Haigh, “HS2's rising costs: government only has itself to blame”, in RAIL, number 993, page 53:

     Former HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins provided a timely reminder of why Britain needs HS2 in a letter to The Times on September 25, in which he asked: "Why are so few FTSE 100 companies based outside the South East? Why is there such a brain drain of graduates from the North? Why do northern cities underperform compared with their European counterparts?

2. (medicine, informal) A Jackson-Pratt drain.

Derived terms

• reverse brain drain

Verb

brain drain (third-person singular simple present brain drains, present participle brain draining, simple past and past participle brain drained)

1. (transitive, idiomatic, uncommon) Of a nation or society, to be deprived of educated or talented people, who in turn migrate to larger cities or more developed nations.
2. (intransitive, idiomatic, uncommon) To become mentally or psychologically fatigued or exhausted.

Alternative forms

• brain-drain

Translations

emigration of educated people

• Afrikaans: breindrein
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: هِجْرَة الأَدْمِغَة f (hijra(t) al-ʔadmiḡa), هِجْرَة العُقُول f (hijra(t) al-ʕuqūl)
• Armenian: ուղեղների արտահոսք (hy) (uġeġneri artahoskʻ)
• Belarusian: уцечка мазгоў f (ucječka mazhóŭ), адток мазгоў m (adtók mazhóŭ), уцёкі мазгоў pl (ucjóki mazhóŭ), выцек мазгоў m (vycjek mazhóŭ)
• Catalan: fuga de cervells f, fugida de cervells f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人才外流 (zh) (réncái wàiliú), 人才流失 (zh) (réncái liúshī)

• Czech: odliv mozků m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: braindrain (nl) m, hersenvlucht (nl) m or f, kennisvlucht m or f
• Esperanto: cerbofuĝo
• Estonian: ajude äravool
• Finnish: aivovuoto (fi), aivovienti
• French: fuite des cerveaux (fr) f, (Quebec) exode des cerveaux m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Braindrain (de) m, Gehirn-Abfluss m, Talentschwund m
• Hebrew: בְּרִיחַת מוֹחוֹת (he) f (briẖát moẖót)
• Hungarian: agyelszívás (hu)
• Italian: fuga dei cervelli f, fuga di cervelli f
• Japanese: 頭脳流出 (ja) (ずのうりゅうしゅつ, zunō ryūshutsu)
• Kannada: ಪ್ರತಿಭಾ ಪಲಾಯನ (kn) (pratibhā palāyana)
• Korean: 두뇌유출(頭腦流出) (dunoeyuchul), 인재유출 (injaeyuchul), 인적자원 유출 (injeokjawon yuchul)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Limburgish: briekingsdrieëg m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hjerneflukt (no) m

• Persian: فرار مغزها (farâr-e mağz-hâ)
• Polish: drenaż mózgów (pl) m
• Portuguese: fuga de cérebros f
• Romanian: brain drain n
• Russian: уте́чка мозго́в (ru) f (utéčka mozgóv), уте́чка умо́в f (utéčka umóv)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: fuga de cerebros f
• Swedish: kompetensflykt (sv) c, kunskapsflykt (sv) c, hjärnflykt c, forskarflykt (sv) c, talangflykt (sv) c
• Thai: สมองไหล (th) (sà-mɔ̌ɔng-lǎi)
• Turkish: beyin göçü (tr)
• Ukrainian: ві́дті́к мі́зків m (vídtík mízkiv)
• Vietnamese: chảy máu chất xám

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English brain drain.

Noun

brain drain n (uncountable)

1. brain drain

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	brain drain	brain drainul
genitive-dative	brain drain	brain drainului
vocative	brain drainule