asylum
noun
[ əˈsʌɪləm ]
• the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee.
• "she applied for asylum and was granted refugee status"
• an institution for the care of people who are mentally ill.
• "he'd been committed to an asylum"
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘place of refuge’, especially for criminals): via Latin from Greek asulon ‘refuge’, from asulos ‘inviolable’, from a- ‘without’ + sulon ‘right of seizure’. Current senses date from the 18th century.