Other forms: incarnations
An incarnation is a life lived in one particular body or form. A previous incarnation, the latest incarnation, the Incarnation.
In Christian theology, capitalised, it means God becoming human in Christ. In looser use it means a version of something: the latest incarnation of a company or a car. The Latin inside it means in flesh, which is where carnal comes from.
1nounincarnationA life lived in one particular body or form.
“She believed she had been an Egyptian princess in a previous incarnation.”
incarnation is a form.
Latin incarnatio means a becoming flesh — in plus caro, flesh. Carnal and carnivore are relatives.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker-
Latin
incarnari — to be made flesh
Ecclesiastical Latin
incarnatio
Old French
incarnacion
Middle English
incarnacion
English, today
incarnation
From Middle English incarnacion, borrowed from Old French incarnacion, from Medieval Latin -, Ecclesiastical Latin incarnatio, from Latin incarnari (“to be made flesh”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA