undead

English

Etymology

From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- +‎ dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. Usage as a noun is attested from the early 20th century onwards.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈdɛd/
• Rhymes: -ɛd

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

undead (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.
2. (horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.
   • 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 November 2019:

     When Anna and John finally break out of their self-centered bubbles to the shock that they must battle to the death an undead neighbor in a giant snowman costume, it plays like a poignant comment on movie teenagers' tendency to indulge their inner lives, ignorant of the world around them.

Translations

being animate, though non-living

• Czech: nemrtvý (cs)
• Dutch: ondode (nl) m
• Esperanto: malmorta
• French: mort-vivant (fr) m
• German: untot
• Hungarian: élőhalott (hu)
• Norwegian: vandød
• Polish: nieumarły m
• Portuguese: morto-vivo m
• Spanish: no-muerto m, zombi (es)
• Swedish: vandöd (sv), odöd (sv), levande död (sv), gengångare (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} mort vivent

Noun

the undead pl (plural only)

1. (horror fiction) Those creatures which are undead; that is, dead yet still animate.

   In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some unsuspecting teenagers.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page xxiv. 319:

     "Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have been, or that will be, could aid him."

   • 2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:

     Harley got devoured by the undead / Lurking down in some old wizard's tomb / You can say there's no such thing as zombies / But that's how Harley Warren met his doom

   • 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[2]:

     It’s an episode of characters returning to their own pasts as different people. They can retrench like Cersei, back on her bullshit, I mean, warpath. Or they can adapt, like The Hound. Neither way necessarily ensures success, but we know the archmaester isn’t unequivocally right. We’ve seen dragons reborn and armies of the undead. I wouldn’t be so sure that Wall will stand forever.

Translations

those creatures which are dead but still animate

• Czech: nemrtvý (cs) m
• Esperanto: malmortulo, vivkadavro
• Finnish: epäkuollut, elävä kuollut
• French: mort-vivant (fr) m
• German: Untoter (de) m
• Italian: non morto (it) m, morto vivente m
• Japanese: アンデッド (andeddo)
• Korean: 언데드 (eondedeu)
• Polish: nieumarli pl
• Portuguese: morto-vivo m
• Russian: не́жить (ru) f (néžitʹ)
• Spanish: no-muerto m, muerto viviente m

Noun

undead (plural undead or (rare) undeads)

1. (horror fiction) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.
   • 1983, Tanith Lee, The Wars of Vis‎^[3]:

     "You will do me a service," the undead said to him.

   • 1997, Carol Margaret Davison, Paul Simpson-Housley, Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997:

     Innocent VIII lent credibility to the actual existence of undeads, an action that perpetuated, and even stimulated, vampire hysteria.

See also

• Frankenstein's monster
• living dead
• mummy
• revenant
• vampire
• zombie