zumbi

See also: Zumbi

English

Noun

zumbi (plural zumbis)

  1. Alternative form of jumbie (“a ghost or spirit”).
  2. (rare) Nonstandard spelling 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

Alternative forms

  • zumbí (1931-prescribed spelling)

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -i
  • Homophone: zumbir (Brazil)
  • Hyphenation: zum‧bi

Etymology 1

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

    Noun

    zumbi m (plural zumbis) (Brazil, historical)

    1. the leader of a quilombo (runaway slave settlement)
      Synonym: zambi
    2. Zumbi dos Palmares

    Etymology 2

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

      Noun

      zumbi m or f by sense (plural zumbis) (Brazil)

      1. (fiction) zombie (the undead)
        Synonyms: morto-vivo, (Portugal) zombie
      2. (voodoo) zombie (person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces)
        Synonym: cazumbi
      3. (figurative) zombie (human being in a state of extreme mental exhaustion)
      Derived terms

      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

        Further reading

        This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.