revenant
/ˈrɛv(ə)nənt
/noun
A person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead: he was three hundred years old, a terrible living revenant...
- So a revenant returns only to steal away again with another?
- It is squarely in the tradition of Japanese ghost stories, where revenants deal out cruel and inexplicable vengeance for obscure reasons.
- Yisrael Medad asks that we call the Jewish settlers in the West Bank revenants, as befits ‘persons who have returned after a long hiatus to their ancestral homes’.
Origin
Early 19th century: French, literally 'coming back', present participle (used as a noun) of revenir.