passeur

smuggler

noun pah-SUR Rare

Also means

ferryman

Usage Note

Passeur originally meant someone who ferries people across a river or border, and that sense still exists. Today its dominant meaning is a people-smuggler who helps migrants cross borders illegally. During WWII it referred heroically to guides who helped people cross into unoccupied France. Feminine form: passeuse.

Examples

"Le passeur faisait traverser la frontière la nuit."

Natural Translation

The smuggler helped people cross the border at night.

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