Reinhabit

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To take residence in a location once more after departing from it
2. To return to a previously occupied space for the purpose of residing there again
3. To begin residing once more in a place where one has lived before

Etymology: "Reinhabit" is simply the prefix "re-", meaning "again," attached to "inhabit," so it means to live in a place once more. The prefix is the older of the two parts in one sense: "re-" traces back to a Proto-Italic root, from which Latin developed the form "re-" used as a prefix meaning "back" or "again." Its partner "inhabit" came into English from Old French "enhabiter," which was itself drawn from Latin "inhabitare," built from "in-" ("in") and "habitare" ("to dwell," the frequentative of "habere," "to have" or "hold"). English took "inhabit" in the Middle English period, and "reinhabit" followed from the same English prefix-plus-verb pattern, with "re-" added directly to the existing verb rather than borrowed as a finished word. Its sense is literal: a person who leaves a house, town, or region and later returns to live there again.

Synonyms: repopulate, restore

Antonyms: abandon, evacuate