Rewilding

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of restoring a natural ecosystem by reintroducing native species and allowing land to return to its wild state with minimal human management
2. The deliberate restoration of degraded landscapes to functioning wild ecosystems through species reintroduction and reduced human intervention
3. Restoring land to a self-sustaining natural state by reestablishing native wildlife populations and ecological processes with minimal ongoing management

Etymology: "Wild" comes from Old English "wilde," which described animals and land that were not tamed, farmed, or cultivated. "Re-" is the Latin prefix meaning "again" or "back," and English has long attached it to verbs. "Rewild" follows that pattern, so the verb literally means to make land untamed again. The modern conservation sense is a deliberate invention. Activists and ecologists in North America adopted the term to name a goal: reversing human damage by reintroducing missing species and stepping back from management. Their point was that wildness is a condition that can be restored, not just a place to be protected. The verb therefore moves from a description of untamed nature to an aim that people can pursue.