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zumbi

Portuguese, noun

zumbi is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “the leader of a quilombo (runaway slave settlement)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first-person singular preterite indicative of zumbir. With an accent, zumbí is a different word: “prescribed spelling of zumbi under the Orthographic Agreement of…”. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “fantasma que vagueia pelas noites escuras; neste sentido, o mesmo que cazumbi”.

What does zumbi mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    Brazilmasculinethe leader of a quilombo (runaway slave settlement)

  2. 2

    BrazilmasculineZumbi dos Palmares

noun

  1. 1

    Brazilfemininemasculinezombie (the undead)

  2. 2

    Brazilfemininemasculinezombie (person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces)

  3. 3

    Brazilfemininemasculinezombie (human being in a state of extreme mental exhaustion)

verb

  1. 1

    Brazilfirst-person singular preterite indicative

  2. 2

    Brazilsecond-person plural imperative

noun

as zumbí
  1. 1

    masculineprescribed spelling of zumbi under the Orthographic Agreement of 1931, which was not effectively implemented

verb

as zumbí
  1. 1

    prescribed spelling of zumbi under the Orthographic Agreement of 1931, which was not effectively implemented

Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How Portuguese dictionaries define it

noun: 1. fantasma que vagueia pelas noites escuras; neste sentido, o mesmo que cazumbi 2. (por extensão) pessoa que só anda à noite 3. no interior desse estado, seria a alma de alguns animais de fazenda, como boi e cavalo 4. lugar deserto no sertão

noun: 1. no Haiti, o corpo de uma pessoa que se presumia morta ao qual é dado vida novamente, usualmente para fins maléficos 2. corpo de pessoa reanimado após seu falecimento, que apresenta faculdades e estado físico corrompidos díspares dos anteriores à sua morte 3. uma pessoa sem vontade própria, cujas reações são sem vida 4. uma pessoa semi-morta, ou desfigurada

The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.

Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of zumbi

  • zumbis plural
  • zumbí alternative
  • zumbís plural

Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to zumbi

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is zumbi in Portuguese?

zumbi appears 7.1 times per million words in written Portuguese.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).