Revenant
/ˈrɛvənənt/noun
A person or thing that returns, especially one believed to have come back from the dead.
Did you know?Revenant comes from French revenant, the present participle of revenir, and in medieval stories it was used for the dead who returned to haunt the living—long before horror movies made it iconic.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʷem-
“to come, go”
Latin
Latin
venīre
“to come”
Latin
Latin
revenīre
“to come back, return”
Old French
Old French
revenant
“returning; one who returns”
14th Century
English
revenant
“a person who returns or comes back, especially from the dead”
Modern English
English
revenant
“a person or thing that returns, especially one believed to have come back from the dead”