Why this word is great
METEMPSYCHOSE — [Verb] To transfer or translate (the soul) from one body to another. From French métempsychoser, from Late Latin metempsychosis, from Koine Greek μετεμψύχωσις (metempsykhōsis, "transmigration of the soul"), from μετά (meta, "across") + ἐν (en, "in") + ψυχή (psykhē, "soul"). Unlike "reincarnate" (which implies a cyclical rebirth within a system) or "transmigrate" (which suggests a wandering passage), metempsychose is the quiet, surgical relocation of consciousness. It is the breath of a dying monk passing into a newborn fawn, the fading ember of a snuffed candle igniting a fresh wick, or the eerie moment when a cat, mid-stride, freezes as if remembering a life it never lived. The soul, it seems, is always someone else’s luggage.