zumbi

See also: Zumbi

English

Noun

zumbi (plural zumbis)

1. Alternative form of jumbie (“a ghost or spirit”)
2. (uncommon) Alternative form of zombie
   • 1876, R.F. Burton, Two Trips to Gorilla Land, page 124:

     and thus there was no danger of the Zumbi, or ghost killing men by reapparition.

   • 1882, Hermenegildo Capelo and Roberto Ivens, From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca, page 26:

     as a libation, it would appear, to the zumbi or n’zumbi of the other world, by and with whom they always deem themselves surrounded and connected.

   • 2021, Kalle Kananoja, Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa, page 41:

     The patients duly offered a banquet to appease the zumbi, but in Modena’s view the only purpose of the ritual was to invoke the demon.

Usage notes

• This particular spelling is used chiefly in West and Southwest African contexts, referring to the ghost or spirit of a deceased person, especially a malevolent one.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /zũˈbi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /zũˈbi/

• Homophone: zumbir (Brazil)
• Hyphenation: zum‧bi

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”, “spirit”) or Kimbundu nzambi (“god”).

Noun

zumbi m (plural zumbis)

1. (Brazil, historical) the leader of a quilombo (runaway slave settlement)
2. Zumbi dos Palmares

Synonyms

• (quilombo leader): zambi

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English zombie, with spelling influenced by Etymology 1.

Noun

zumbi m or f by sense (plural zumbis)

1. (Brazil, fiction) zombie (the undead)
2. (Brazil, voodoo) zombie (person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces)
3. (Brazil, figurative) zombie (human being in a state of extreme mental exhaustion)

Synonyms

• (the undead): morto-vivo, zombie (Portugal)
• (person animated by unnatural forces): cazumbi
• (leader of a quilombo): zambi

Derived terms

• zumbinismo
• zumbizismo

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

zumbi

1. inflection of zumbir:
   1. first-person singular preterite indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative