Where did the word “zombie” come from? Anthropologists explain.
We are familiar with the word “zombie” from movies, books, and comics. But where did it come from? The term meaning “living dead” has a rather mysterious origin. Clues lead to Africa.
5 min readFeb 26, 2024
The word “zombie” came to us written in a book published in 1697 by the Frenchman Pierre-Corneille Blessebois. This libertine and adventurer was sent into exile to Guadeloupe for his sins. On this Caribbean island, he set the action of his adventure book “Zombie from Grand Perou, or Countess de Cocagne” (Le Zombi du Grand Pérou ou la Comtesse de Cocagne).
The French language had not encountered this term before. The Frenchman apparently adopted the word from legends and beliefs he encountered in the Caribbean. Such tales circulated among plantation owners, and most importantly among slaves — Africans brought to distant islands. Therefore, researchers most often attribute an African etymology to the word “zombie.”
