What does reincarnated mean?
Reincarnated means having been born again in a new life, usually through the return of a soul to another body or form. The word is especially common in discussions of religious and spiritual traditions, although it also appears in fiction, mythology, and folklore to describe a character or identity that continues across successive lives. Figuratively, reincarnated can describe something revived or reconceived in a radically different form, such as an abandoned project that returns as a community program. Its associations with continuity, memory, and transformation make it more evocative than simply reborn. The expression can be used for both people and things, though in everyday speech it is more likely to appear in a literary, historical, or imaginative context.
Having undergone reincarnation; born again in a new body or form.
"The reincarnated king returned with the same scar on his shoulder."
Common in religious, spiritual, mythological, and literary contexts.
Past tense and past participle of reincarnate: to undergo rebirth in a new life or form.
"The character reincarnated as a bird in the second chapter."
Usually used in narrative, spiritual, or figurative contexts.
A reincarnated character carries the past into a new existence, making the word a compact symbol of continuity through transformation.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does reincarnated come from?
The word comes from the combination of re-, meaning again, and incarnate, meaning embodied or invested with a body. The underlying elements ultimately derive from Latin caro, meaning flesh, and nasci, meaning to be born, through the related forms incarnare and incarnatio. Reincarnation developed as a term for the belief or practice that a person or soul undergoes repeated lives, while reincarnated is the corresponding participial and past-participle form.
Related word forms
How reincarnated is actually used
In religious and spiritual contexts, the term commonly denotes the return of a soul to a new life. In figurative use, it is usually literary or informal and suggests continuity combined with substantial transformation.
Easily confused with reincarnated
Incarnate refers to being embodied or given a physical form, whereas reincarnated specifically refers to undergoing another life after death.