Zombiepedia
Register
Advertisement
Nuvola 50px import Please do not add your own invented slang terms. Thank You.

This section is for terms introduced in notable works, or introduced in fields relevant to the topic.


This page deals with slang terms for a Zombie apocalypse, in the heat of the moment it's easy to garble in horror at the situation and important messages are lost so easy terms are introduced by the military which are inevitably adopted and mutated by civilians. Due to the scattered human population in a post-apocalyptic setting there are various redundancies, since unconnected areas will use differing dialects.

Humans[]

All[]

Breathers- All survivors

Survivors - Any living human in the zombie apocalypse

Civilians[]

  • Bandits - also known as Raiders. Humans who don't want to band together with all other humans to fight the zombies but who start preying on other survivors for supplies and resources.
  • Ferals - Humans regressed to animal instincts. Typically children surviving alone. Feral packs of dogs or even cats can also be a problem.
  • Fundies - religious Fundamentalists who think the zombie epidemic is the End Times, and have mentally snapped, and are now a danger to themselves and others. Some encourage mass suicides. Others will forcibly offer up themselves and other survivors to the zombies, feeling that it is God's will that humanity be devoured by them. Some cases involve offering up kidnapped people to the zombies, other times they intentionally sabotage defensive barricades to let the zombies in.
  • Greenies - the radical leftist equivalent of the Fundies, who have also mentally snapped and offer up other people to the zombies. The difference is that while the Fundies believe zombies are God's wrath (or whatever mainstream religious system in the area), Greenies believe that zombies are "Nature's wrath" against humanity.
  • LaMOE's - Acronym for "Last Man on Earth". Isolated survivors who have gotten so used to ruling over their own little enclave that they will actively fight to defend it rather than re-integrate with other humans. Something in them just snaps mentally. Distinct from "Robinson Crusoe's" - isolated survivors who are actually friendly when contacted. Overlaps somewhat with Bandits, but unlike Bandits they're more concerned with defending their own enclave than raiding yours (usually). Also not as organized or rational as Secessionists. The audiobook of World War Z mispronounces this as "Luh-moh", but a footnote in the print book explicitly states that it is pronounced "Lay-moh" - i.e. a derogatory pun that they're "Lame".
  • RC's - Robinson Crusoe's. Survivors who are radio-isolated and don't know that other humans are in the area, even thinking they might be the last humans alive - but, unlike LaMOE's, they are actually happy to see other living people. Only dangerous in that they might shoot you by accident or on instinct, assuming you are a zombie. Once they realize you're not a zombie, however, they will be friendly - this is what distinguishes them from LaMOE's.
  • Quislings - People that become delusional and think they are zombies, themselves
  • Secessionists - also known as "Rebels" or "Rebs". Large organized survivor enclaves that actively do not want to reintegrate with the official government (assuming there is still a formal government left), often because they are upset that the government allowed the zombie epidemic to spread in the first place. If widespread national governments outright collapse, however, there's nothing to "secede" from anymore, and they become the only islands of civilization.

Military[]

Grunts - Infantry

Boot - Military personnel, particularly combat arms personnel, who have never experienced combat or been forward-deployed.

Cavalry - Usually scout helicopters or other fast and light vehicles

Spec Ops/Operators - Special operations personnel

Zombies[]

  • Abominations
  • Ankle Biters - Zombies that do not have legs or otherwise cannot walk
  • Banelings ("Legend of the Seeker")
  • Beaters ("Aftertime")
  • Biters
  • Cannibal Corpses
  • Cranks - people infected with the Flare (The Maze Runner)
  • Crawlers- Zombies that do not have legs; another name for Ankle Biters
  • Creepy Crawlies ("The Walking Dead" video game)
  • Crimson Heads (See VACT)
  • Dead Heads
  • Dead Beats
  • Draggers - Zombies that do not have legs; another name for Ankle Biters
  • Freakers (Days Gone)
  • Geeks
  • Ghouls ("G's" for short)
  • Grabbers - zombies trapped inside abandoned cars who are still dangerous because they can reach out of the windows.
  • Infected - Broad term for zombie, although technically, it refers specifically to living people transformed by a virus. The infected typically move at full human speed.
  • Jiangshi (literally 'zombie' translated to chinese)
  • Lame Brains
  • Lurker - Zombies that hide and wait for a victim
  • Meat Bags
  • Monsters ("The Walking Dead")
  • Mudo ("Forest of Hands and Teeth")
  • Munchers (The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX)
  • Noob - Any newly infected zombie; used by Todd Wainio in World War Z
  • Necrotics
  • Parents: ("The Dead")
  • Puppies and Kittens ("Z Nation")
  • Revived/Revitalized:("The Zom-B Chronicles") - Though, the revitalized maintain the memory of their former life and still have free will
  • Risen
  • Roamers ("The Walking Dead") 
  • Rotters
  • Runners - Another name for Infected
  • Saifu - term used in Japan in World War Z, the Japanese name for driver ants, used by analogy (sort of like calling them "swarmers")
  • Skels/Skeletons ("Zone One")
  • Shufflers
  • Slackjaws
  • Stiffs
  • Stragglers ("Zone One")
  • Swimmers - A bloated and waterlogged zombie
  • Tin Cans - Zombies in riot gear or any metal armor
  • Them (HOTD)
  • The Living Dead
  • The Resurrected ("Z Nation")
  • The Walking Dead
  • Unconsecrated ("Forest of Hands and Teeth")
  • Undead
  • Unmentionables ("Pride and Prejudice and Zombies")
  • V-ACT (Resident Evil)
  • Walkers
  • Whiskey Delta (Left 4 Dead)
  • Zachs/Zacks
  • Zeds
  • Zeke
  • ZQN ("I am a Hero")
  • Z's
Advertisement