Etymology

raison d'être

Today it means: A reason for being; the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the sole or ultimate purpose of something or someone. Full definition →

French raison d'être
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromraison d'être
  2. English todayraison d'être

Borrowed from French raison d'être (literally “a reason to be/exist”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.