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zombie

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Zombie

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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First attested in the 18th century. Partially through Louisiana Creole zombi (“zombie; ghost”), Haitian Creole zonbi (“zombie”), and French zombi (“zombie”). Ultimately from a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi, Sranan Tongo dyumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbie (“a spirit or demon”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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zombie (plural zombies)

  1. (voodoo) A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his or her own, typically being slow, obedient, and harmless unless directed to be harmful.
    Synonym: living dead
    • 1943, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, I Walked with a Zombie (motion picture):
      Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink.
    • 1954, Ian Fleming, “A Visiting-Card”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 21:
      The rumour had started that he was the Zombie or living corpse of Baron Samedi himself, the dreaded Prince of Darkness, and he fostered the story so that now it was accepted through all the lower strata of the negro world.
    • 1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:
      The zombies were having fun
      The party had just begun
      The guests included Wolf-Man, Dracula, and his son.
  2. (horror) A dead person, reanimated through some fictional agency as a fungus, virus, or the like, that has an insatiable desire to eat living humans, typically depicted as aggressive, fast moving, and infectious.
    Synonyms: deadhead, walker, walking dead, (slang) zed
    • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: SSV Normandy:
      Ashley: Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though.
      Shepard: He's not a zombie, is he?
    • 2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2023:
      The zombies first show up 20 minutes in, after Melanie volunteers herself as the next child to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. That’s when we learn that Melanie and her classmates are all “hungries,” or people infected with a toxic fungus that turns them into mindless flesh-eating animals.
  3. (figuratively) An apathetic or slow-witted person. [1936]
  4. (figuratively) A human being in a state of extreme mental exhaustion.
  5. (figurative) A person or entity that is expected to be deceased or defunct, yet continues to exist or persist.
    • 1974, Kool & the Gang, “You Don't Have to Change”, in Light of Worlds:
      I walked (I walked, I walked) / Like a zombie in the night / You came (you came, you came) / And you brought me back to life
    • 1982 February 13, Wayne Dynes, “Unnatural”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 4:
      I would advise anyone who does not share its politics — surely the great majority of gay men and lesbians — to shun NOLAG for the anachronistic zombie it is.
  6. An information worker who has signed a nondisclosure agreement.[1]
    Synonym: intellectual prostitute
  7. (computing) A process or task which has terminated but has not been removed from the list of processes, typically because it has an unresponsive parent process.[2]
    • 1986, Maurice J. Bach, The Design of the Unix Operating System, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, See "Process States and Transitions," p. 147.
      9. The process executed the exit system call and is in the zombie state. The process no longer exists, but it leaves a record containing an exit code and some timing statistics for its parent process to collect. The zombie state is the final state of a process.
  8. (computing) A computer affected by malware which causes it to do whatever the attacker wants it to do without the user's knowledge.
  9. A cocktail of rum and fruit juices.
    • 1943, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, I Walked with a Zombie (motion picture):
      Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink.
    • 1976, Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, “Haitian Divorce”, in The Royal Scam, performed by Steely Dan:
      She takes the taxi to the good hotel / Bon marché as far as she can tell / She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell
    • 1976, Harvard Advocate CX:ii, pages 8 and 380:
      The maitre d’ introduced us and I had a zombie with him. Those zombies are wicked.
      […]
      I watched Mario and drank zombies out of a thermos.
  10. (Canada, historical, derogatory) A conscripted member of the Canadian military during World War II who was assigned to home defence rather than to combat in Europe.[3]
    • 1944, "Time for Decision," Time (US edition), 6 Nov.,
      Had the time come to order Canada's home defense draftees—some 70,000 zombies idling at home—to battle overseas?
  11. (Australia, slang) Marijuana, or similar drugs.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana
  12. (philosophy) A hypothetical being that is indistinguishable from a normal human being except in that it lacks conscious experience, qualia, or sentience.
    Synonyms: p-zombie, philosophical zombie
    • 2019, Susan Schneider, Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, Princeton University Press, page 41:
      Few of us would want friends or romantic partners who ghost-walked through events in our lives, seeming to share experiences with us, but in fact feeling nothing, being what philosophers call “zombies.”
  13. (slang) A person whose senses and faculties are severely dulled by drug use.
    I'm worried about that guy on the corner, he is a fent zombie.
  14. (Philippines, slang) A person with a big appetite.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ EE Times, "Beware 'zombie' clauses," 2 Aug., 2004
  2. ^ Maurice J. Bach The Design of the Unix Operating System, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA, 1986. See "Process States and Transitions," p. 147.
  3. ^ The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton Canada, 1988. See "National Resources Mobilization Act," p. 1433.

Czech

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Etymology

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First attested in the 20th century.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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zombie m anim or f or n

  1. zombie
    Synonyms: zombík, nemrtvý

Declension

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when masculine:

Declension of zombie (masculine animate in -ie)
singular plural
nominative zombie zombiové, zombies
genitive zombieho zombiů, zombies
dative zombiemu zombiům, zombies
accusative zombieho zombie, zombies
vocative zombie zombiové, zombies
locative zombiem zombiích, zombies
instrumental zombiem zombii, zombies

when feminine:

Declension of zombie (indeclinable feminine)
singular plural
nominative zombie zombie, zombies
genitive zombie zombie, zombies
dative zombie zombie, zombies
accusative zombie zombie, zombies
vocative zombie zombie, zombies
locative zombie zombie, zombies
instrumental zombie zombie, zombies

when neuter:

Declension of zombie (indeclinable neuter)
singular plural
nominative zombie zombie, zombies
genitive zombie zombie, zombies
dative zombie zombie, zombies
accusative zombie zombie, zombies
vocative zombie zombie, zombies
locative zombie zombie, zombies
instrumental zombie zombie, zombies

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English zombie, from a Bantu language.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈzɔm.bi/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: zom‧bie

Noun

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zombie m (plural zombies, diminutive zombietje n)

  1. zombie

Derived terms

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Finnish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈtsombie/, [ˈts̠o̞mbie̞]
  • IPA(key): /ˈtsombi/, [ˈts̠o̞mbi]
  • IPA(key): /ˈzombi/, [ˈzo̞mbi]
  • Rhymes: -ombie

Noun

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zombie

  1. alternative form of zombi

Declension

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Inflection of zombie (Kotus type 3/valtio, no gradation)
nominative zombie zombiet
genitive zombien zombieiden
zombieitten
partitive zombieta zombieita
illative zombieen zombieihin
singular plural
nominative zombie zombiet
accusative nom. zombie zombiet
gen. zombien
genitive zombien zombieiden
zombieitten
partitive zombieta zombieita
inessive zombiessa zombieissa
elative zombiesta zombieista
illative zombieen zombieihin
adessive zombiella zombieilla
ablative zombielta zombieilta
allative zombielle zombieille
essive zombiena zombieina
translative zombieksi zombieiksi
abessive zombietta zombieitta
instructive — zombiein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of zombie (Kotus type 3/valtio, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative zombieni zombieni
accusative nom. zombieni zombieni
gen. zombieni
genitive zombieni zombieideni
zombieitteni
partitive zombietani zombieitani
inessive zombiessani zombieissani
elative zombiestani zombieistani
illative zombieeni zombieihini
adessive zombiellani zombieillani
ablative zombieltani zombieiltani
allative zombielleni zombieilleni
essive zombienani zombieinani
translative zombiekseni zombieikseni
abessive zombiettani zombieittani
instructive — —
comitative — zombieineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative zombiesi zombiesi
accusative nom. zombiesi zombiesi
gen. zombiesi
genitive zombiesi zombieidesi
zombieittesi
partitive zombietasi zombieitasi
inessive zombiessasi zombieissasi
elative zombiestasi zombieistasi
illative zombieesi zombieihisi
adessive zombiellasi zombieillasi
ablative zombieltasi zombieiltasi
allative zombiellesi zombieillesi
essive zombienasi zombieinasi
translative zombieksesi zombieiksesi
abessive zombiettasi zombieittasi
instructive — —
comitative — zombieinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative zombiemme zombiemme
accusative nom. zombiemme zombiemme
gen. zombiemme
genitive zombiemme zombieidemme
zombieittemme
partitive zombietamme zombieitamme
inessive zombiessamme zombieissamme
elative zombiestamme zombieistamme
illative zombieemme zombieihimme
adessive zombiellamme zombieillamme
ablative zombieltamme zombieiltamme
allative zombiellemme zombieillemme
essive zombienamme zombieinamme
translative zombieksemme zombieiksemme
abessive zombiettamme zombieittamme
instructive — —
comitative — zombieinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative zombienne zombienne
accusative nom. zombienne zombienne
gen. zombienne
genitive zombienne zombieidenne
zombieittenne
partitive zombietanne zombieitanne
inessive zombiessanne zombieissanne
elative zombiestanne zombieistanne
illative zombieenne zombieihinne
adessive zombiellanne zombieillanne
ablative zombieltanne zombieiltanne
allative zombiellenne zombieillenne
essive zombienanne zombieinanne
translative zombieksenne zombieiksenne
abessive zombiettanne zombieittanne
instructive — —
comitative — zombieinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative zombiensa zombiensa
accusative nom. zombiensa zombiensa
gen. zombiensa
genitive zombiensa zombieidensa
zombieittensa
partitive zombietaan
zombietansa 		zombieitaan
zombieitansa
inessive zombiessaan
zombiessansa 		zombieissaan
zombieissansa
elative zombiestaan
zombiestansa 		zombieistaan
zombieistansa
illative zombieensa zombieihinsa
adessive zombiellaan
zombiellansa 		zombieillaan
zombieillansa
ablative zombieltaan
zombieltansa 		zombieiltaan
zombieiltansa
allative zombielleen
zombiellensa 		zombieilleen
zombieillensa
essive zombienaan
zombienansa 		zombieinaan
zombieinansa
translative zombiekseen
zombieksensa 		zombieikseen
zombieiksensa
abessive zombiettaan
zombiettansa 		zombieittaan
zombieittansa
instructive — —
comitative — zombieineen
zombieinensa

Derived terms

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compounds
  • zombie-tähti (“zombie star”)

Further reading

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French

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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zombie

  1. alternative spelling of zombi
  2. feminine singular of zombi

References

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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zombie m or f by sense (invariable)

  1. alternative spelling of zombi

References

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  1. ^ “zombie” in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Further reading

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  • “zombie” in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no
A 1946 Haitian painting depicting zombie folk beliefs.
A participant dressed as a zombie at the Buenos Aires Zombie Walk in 2009.

Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English zombie, whose English source is partly from Louisiana Creole zombi (“zombie; ghost”), Haitian Creole zonbi (“zombie”) and French zombi (“zombie”), ultimately from an unidentified Bantu language. Compare nzambi (“god”) and zumbi (“fetish”), and nzumbi (“ghost, spirit”).

Compare the parallel borrowings Norwegian Nynorsk zombie, Danish zombie, Swedish zombie, German Zombie, Dutch zombie, Polish zombie and Czech zombie (“zombie”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /¹sɔm.bi/, [ˈsɔ̀m.bǐ]
  • Rhymes: -ɔmbi
  • Hyphenation: zom‧bie

Noun

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zombie m (definite singular zombien, indefinite plural zombier, definite plural zombiene)

  1. (voodoo) zombie; a person who, according to Haitian and Afro-Caribbean belief, has been deprived of their will and made into the servant of a sorcerer through magic, traditionally often conceived of as a living or reanimated corpse
    Synonym: levende død
    I fortellingen gjorde trollmannen mannen om til en zombie. ― In the story, the sorcerer turned the man into a zombie.
    • 2025 August 31, Ola Gunhildrud Berta and Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo, “zombie”, in Store norske leksikon‎[3], archived from the original on 4 October 2026:
      Zombie er i afrokaribisk voodoo en person som gjennom svart magi er blitt forvandlet til et viljeløst redskap for en trollmann.
      In Afro-Caribbean voodoo, a zombie is a person who through black magic has been transformed into the will-less instrument of a sorcerer.
  2. (fiction, horror) zombie; a ghost, revenant or reanimated corpse, especially the undead creature of modern horror fiction and popular culture
    Synonyms: gjenferd, spøkelse, levende død
    Filmen handler om en by som blir angrepet av zombier. ― The film is about a town being attacked by zombies.
    • 1996, Aftenposten, number 45, page 7, column 4:
      enkelte skuespillere går rundt som zombier mens andre tillates overspill inntil det groteske
      some actors walk around like zombies while others are allowed to overact to the point of grotesqueness
    • 1997, Torgrim Eggen, Den nye Dylan, page 122:
      er du en engel og henter en salat til meg …? spurte Sverre, og hustruen lystret som en zombie
      are you an angel and will you get me a salad …? Sverre asked, and his wife obeyed like a zombie
    • 2003, Arne Svingen, De tøffeste gutta, page 102:
      Frank var treg som en zombie
      Frank was slow as a zombie
    • 2010 December 23, Jens Urth, “Zombiefilmer handler om terrorfrykt og overforbruk”, in forskning.no‎[4], archived from the original on 24 August 2026:
      I motsetning til mange andre monstre, som ofte kommer fra bøkenes univers, oppstår zombien på filmlerretet på 1930- og 1940-tallet.
      Unlike many other monsters, which often come from the world of books, the zombie appears on the screen in the 1930s and 1940s.
    • 2015, Ingvild H. Rishøi, La stå, page 53:
      [jeg] følte meg som en zombie
      [I] felt like a zombie
  3. (figuratively) a zombie; an abnormally apathetic, sluggish or mechanically acting person, seemingly lacking initiative or independent will
    Etter nattevakten gikk han rundt som en zombie. ― After the night shift, he walked around like a zombie.
    • 2013, Gert Nygårdshaug, Pergamentet, page 283:
      Lauritz var en zombie, … gikk rundt og smilte, gjorde alt han ble bedt om
      Lauritz was a zombie, … walked around smiling, did everything he was asked to do
    • 2017, Tom Egeland, Lasaruseffekten, page 445:
      viljeløse zombier som ventet på den neste ordren
      will-less zombies waiting for the next order
  4. (computing) zombie computer; a computer infected with malware and capable of being remotely controlled without its user's knowledge
    Den infiserte datamaskinen ble brukt som en zombie i et botnett. ― The infected computer was used as a zombie in a botnet.
    • 2020 January 13, “Botnet”, in Nettvett.no‎[5], archived from the original on 25 August 2026:
      En zombie eller bot (av robot) er en datamaskin som kan kontrolleres utenfra.
      A zombie or bot (from robot) is a computer that can be controlled remotely.
  5. (computing) zombie process; a process which has terminated but remains in the operating system's process table until its parent process retrieves its exit status
    Barneprosessen ble liggende som en zombie etter at den var ferdig. ― The child process remained as a zombie after it had finished.
    • (Can we date this quote?), “Obligatorisk oppgave 4: Prosesser og systemkall i Linux”, in Høgskolen i Østfold‎[6], archived from the original on 24 August 2026:
      For at zombien skal kunne fjernes helt, må forelderprosessen enten selv terminere, eller gjøre et kall på wait() eller waitpid() som leser returverdien fra barnet.
      For the zombie to be completely removed, the parent process must either terminate itself or make a call to wait() or waitpid() that reads the child's return value.
  6. (philosophy) philosophical zombie; a hypothetical being physically and functionally indistinguishable from a normal human being but lacking conscious experience or qualia
    Zombieargumentet spør om en zombie uten bevisst opplevelse er metafysisk mulig. ― The zombie argument asks whether a zombie without conscious experience is metaphysically possible.
    • 2025 November 12, Mette Kristine Hansen, “zombieargumentet”, in Store norske leksikon‎[7], archived from the original on 24 August 2026:
      En filosofisk zombie er en person som er fysisk og funksjonelt identisk med en vanlig person, som meg og deg, men som mangler opplevd bevissthet.
      A philosophical zombie is a person who is physically and functionally identical to an ordinary person like you and me, but lacks experienced consciousness.

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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zombie m (definite singular zombien, indefinite plural zombiar, definite plural zombiane)

  1. A zombie

Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
zombie

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English zombie.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    zombie m animal (indeclinable)

    1. (voodoo) zombie (person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of their own)
      Synonyms: umarlak, zombiak, żywy trup
      Hypernym: nieumarły
    2. (fiction) zombie (deceased person who becomes reanimate to attack the living)
      Synonyms: umarlak, zombiak, żywy trup
      Hypernym: nieumarły
    3. zombie film
    4. (computing) zombie (computer affected by malware)

    Derived terms

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    noun

    Further reading

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    • “zombie”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎[8] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • “zombie”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[9] (in Polish)

    Portuguese

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    Etymology

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      Unadapted borrowing from English zombie.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      zombie m or f by sense (plural zombies)

      1. (Portugal) zombie (the undead)
        Synonyms: morto-vivo, (Brazil) zumbi

      Further reading

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      Slovak

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      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /zɔmbi/, [ˈzɔmbi]
      • Rhymes: -ɔmbi
      • Hyphenation: zom‧bie

      Noun

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      zombie m pers

      1. alternative form of zombi

      Usage notes

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      May also be indeclinable.

      Declension

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      Declension of zombie
      (pattern kuli)
      singularplural
      nominativezombiezombieovia
      genitivezombiehozombieov
      dativezombiemuzombieom
      accusativezombiehozombieov
      locativezombiemzombieoch
      instrumentalzombiemzombieami

      Further reading

      [edit]
      • “zombie”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

      Spanish

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      Noun

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      zombie m (plural zombies)

      1. alternative spelling of zombi

      Swedish

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      Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia sv

      Etymology

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      Borrowed from English zombie, from a Bantu language.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      zombie c

      1. zombie

      Declension

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      Declension of zombie
      nominative genitive
      singular indefinite zombie zombies
      definite zombien zombiens
      plural indefinite zombies, zombier zombies, zombiers
      definite zombierna, zombiesarna zombiernas, zombiersarnas

      References

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      Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=zombie&oldid=93735985"