metempsychosis means transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
metempsychosis is pronounced /mɛtəmsʌɪˈkəʊsɪs/.
Why “metempsychosis” is a great word
METEMPSYCHOSIS — [Noun] The transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death into a new body. From Late Latin metempsychosis, from Koine Greek μετεμψύχωσις (metempsúkhōsis), from meta- ("change") + empsychoun ("to animate, put a soul into"). Unlike reincarnation, which implies a linear, moral progression into a new human life, or the more general transmigration, which lacks its specific philosophical heft, metempsychosis is the soul's promiscuous odyssey across all kingdoms of being. It is the ascetic shunning root vegetables for fear of consuming a friend, the philosopher's soul slipping into the body of a thrush, and a lover's fervor finding harbor in the pulse of ocean brine—the self as a perpetual tenant in a mansion where the music never stops and the chairs themselves have souls.
noun
- Transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death.“Pythagoras borrowed Metempsychosis of the Ægyptians, but since, it hath been received of divers Nations, and especially of our Druides[…].”