Meanings
- uncountableA sense of unfamiliarity with, or of never having experienced or seen before, something that should be familiar.
1 more example
The subtle, recurring confusion between illusion and reality that was characteristic of paramnesia fascinated the chaplain, and he knew a number of things about it. He knew, for example, that it was called paramnesia, and he was interested as well in such corollary optical phenomena as jamais vu, never seen, and presque vu, almost seen.
1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Origin
- Frenchjamais“never”
- Englishjamais vu
Borrowed from French jamais (“never”) + vu (“seen”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 未視感 /未视感
- 未視感 /未视感 (wèishìgǎn)Translations
Korean 미시감
- 미시감 (misigam)Translations
Cite this entry
jamais vu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jamais%20vu
“jamais vu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jamais%20vu. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jamais vu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jamais%20vu.
Source: jamais vu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.