Revenants

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A supernatural being that has come back from the dead to settle unresolved issues, often motivated by a desire for revenge or closure
2. An entity that reappears after dying, commonly linked to haunting the living or pursuing unfinished matters
3. A supernatural figure that returns from death to resolve past grievances, frequently driven by demands for justice or peace

Etymology: "Revenants" is the plural of "revenant", a word that reached English in the 19th century from French, where it is the present participle of "revenir", meaning "to return". So the word is literally "returning", and the sense of a dead person coming back came later, as an extension of that plain meaning. The French verb itself is built from "re-", "again", and "venir", "to come", the same "venir" that gives English "advent" and "convene" through Latin. "Revenir" also gives the French noun "revenu", whose English cousin "revenue" is the word the source points to for comparison: both come from the idea of something coming back to you. A revenant is, in the most literal sense, a thing that has come back.

Synonyms: ghosts, spirits, apparitions