revenant

rev·e·nant

R r

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [rev-uh-nuh nt]
- /ˈrɛv ə nənt/
- /rˈevənənt/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [rev-uh-nuh nt]
- /ˈrɛv ə nənt/

Definitions of revenant word

noun revenant a person who returns. 1
noun revenant a person who returns as a spirit after death; ghost. 1
noun revenant something, esp a ghost, that returns 0
noun revenant a person who returns, as after a long absence 0
noun revenant ghost (sense 2) 0

See all 5 definitions of revenant

Information block about the term

Origin of revenant

First appearance:

before 1820

One of the 38% newest English words

1820-30; < French: ghost, noun use of present participle of revenir to return, equivalent to re- re- + ven(ir) to come (< Latin venīre) + -ant -ant

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Revenant

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Revenant

revenant popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 69% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

revenant usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for revenant

noun revenant

apparition — An apparition is someone you see or think you see but who is not really there as a physical being.
banshee — In Irish folk stories, a banshee is a female spirit who warns you by her long, sad cry that someone in your family is going to die.
daemon — a demigod
ghost — the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons.
haunter — to visit habitually or appear to frequently as a spirit or ghost: to haunt a house; to haunt a person.

All 9 Synonyms of revenant