phrase
French
Déjà Vu
/ˌdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/
lit. “already seen”
The eerie sense that the current moment has happened before.
Origin
Coined in 19th-century French psychology to name a specific subjective experience: the conviction that a novel event is somehow familiar. Now used both clinically and casually.
Modern usage
Casual use is loose — often as 'this happened before,' even when the speaker means literal repetition.
Tags
memory
perception