From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- + dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. The term was revived, popularized, and imbued with supernatural connotations by its usage in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897).
Meanings
(dated, not-comparable) Not dead; alive.
(not-comparable) Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.
(not-comparable, qualifier:horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.
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. 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2019:
cs nemrtvý (being animate, though non-living) · sv odöd (being animate, though non-living) · nl ondode (being animate, though non-living) · eo malmorta (being animate, though non-living) · it non morto (being animate, though non-living) · sv vandöd (being animate, though non-living) · fr mort-vivant (being animate, though non-living) · es no muerto (being animate, though non-living) · sv gengångare (being animate, though non-living) · pl nieumarły (being animate, though non-living) · hu élőhalott (being animate, though non-living) · ka ცოცხალი მკვდარი (being animate, though non-living) · pt morto-vivo (being animate, though non-living) · es muerto viviente (being animate, though non-living) · sv levande död (being animate, though non-living) · no vandød (being animate, though non-living) · de untot (being animate, though non-living) · es zombi (being animate, though non-living)
From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- + dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. The term was revived, popularized, and imbued with supernatural connotations by its usage in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897).
Meanings
(countable, qualifier:horror and fantasy fiction, uncountable) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.
Innocent VIII lent credibility to the actual existence of undeads, an action that perpetuated, and even stimulated, vampire hysteria. 1997, Carol Margaret Davison, Paul Simpson-Housley, Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997:
(countable, plural, plural-only, qualifier:horror and fantasy fiction, uncountable, with-definite-article) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate. ▸ Those who are undead.
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 2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:
"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." 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page xxiv. 319:
In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some unsuspecting teenagers.
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. 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2017:
"You will do me a service," the undead said to him. 1983, Tanith Lee, The Wars of Vis:
fi epäkuollut (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · ja アンデッド (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · eo vivkadavro (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · de Untote (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · eo malmortulo (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · es muerto viviente (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · cmn 不死族 (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · ko 언데드 (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · fi elävä kuollut (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · no vandøde (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · it morto vivente (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · cs nemrtvý (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · pt morto-vivo (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · it non morto (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · cmn 亡靈 /亡灵 (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · es no muerto (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · de Untoter (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · ru не́жить (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · pl nieumarli (those creatures which are dead but still animate) · fr mort-vivant (those creatures which are dead but still animate)