83 Words for ‘Zombie’.

So, in Hyenas, there’s a scene where the Book Club argue about what the ‘zombies’ ought to be called. Jay, the book’s central character, calls them ‘hyenas’ on account of their insane, shrieking laughter. Another character calls them ‘mouth-breathers’. Another calls them, quite simply, ‘twats’ (apologies for lowering the tone). The deranged militia leader, Sergeant Pepper, calls them ‘jokers’. This tendency to avoid the word ‘zombie’ or ‘the z-word’ to quote Shaun of the Dead, is not uncommon. In The Walking Dead, they are referred to, among many other things, as ‘walkers’. In Mike Carey’s brilliant The Girl with all the Gifts, they are ‘hungries’. Anyway, I started thinking about how many different synonyms there are in film, literature and video games for our rotten old friend the zombie and thought it might be interesting to compile a list. Please feel free to use the comments to post a suggestion. I’ll be updating this post on a regular basis (published work only, please. Self-published is fine).

1. Afflicted, The (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)
2. Awakened, The (Nod, Adrian Barnes)
3. Biters (The Walking Dead)
4. Blasters (Z Nation)
5. Brain Eaters (A Bloody Bloody Mess in the Wild Wild West, Justin Bienvenue)
6. Broken (Year 47, Bo Chappell)
7. Chewers (Those Left Behind, Mark Tufo)
8. Clickers (The Last of Us, video game)
9. Cold Bodies (The Walking Dead)
10. Cranks (The Maze Runner, James Dashner)
11. Crazies (The Crazies)
12. Creepers (The Walking Dead)
13. Creosotes (Blood Crazy, Simon Clark)
14. Dead Ones (The Walking Dead)
15. Dead, The (Zone One, Colson Whitehead)
16. Deadheads (Survival of the Dead)
17. Deadites (Army of Darkness)
18. Differently Biotic (The Kiss of Life, Daniel Waters)
19. Diseased, The (Once Bitten, Twice Die, Antony J. Stanton)
20. Draugr (Skyrim)
21. Eaters (Eaters, Michelle DePaepe and The Walking Dead comic book series)
22. Eternal Walking Nightmare, The (World War Z, Max Brooks)
23. Exes (Ex-Heroes, Peter Cline)
24. Ex-Living (Ex-Heroes, Peter Cline)
25. Ex-People (Ex-Heroes, Peter Cline)
26. Fence Clingers (The Walking Dead)
27. Floaters (The Walking Dead)
28. Flood, The (Halo)
29. Foamers (Toward the Brink, Craig A. McDonough)
30. Forged, The (The Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb)
31. Freaks (Enclave, Ann Aguirre)
32. Geeks (The Walking Dead)
33. Ghouls (Night of the Living Dead; Fallout 3)
34. Gimps (The Hospital, Keith C. Blackmore)
35. Great Impure, The (Once Bitten, Twice Die, Antony J. Stanton)
36. Howlers (Other Than, Mia Jo Celeste)
37. Hungries (The Girl with all the Gifts, M.R. Carey)
38. Hyenas (Hyenas, Michael Sellars)
39. Infected (Resident Evil and all over the place)
40. Inferi (Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling)
41. Jokers (Hyenas, Michael Sellars)
42. Lamebrains (The Walking Dead)
43. Lifeless, The (Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson)
44. Lurkers (The Walking Dead)
45. Meat Puppets (The Walking Dead)
46. Meatskins (The Reapers are the Angels, Alden Bell)
47. Monsters (The Walking Dead)
48. Mouth-Breathers (Hyenas, Michael Sellars)
49. Mudo (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan)
50. Necromorphs (Dead Space)
51. Phone Crazies (Cell, Stephen King)
52. Phoners (Cell, Stephen King)
53. Phytos (Z Nation)
54. Plague Rat (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan)
55. Puppies and Kittens (Z Nation — inspired by The Walking Dead)
56. Reliving, The (Handling the Undead, John Ajvide Lindqvist)
57. Resurrected, The (Z Nation)
58. Revenants (The Revenant)
59. Revitalized, The (Zom-B Chronicles, Darren Shan)
60. Revived, The (Zom-B Chronicles, Darren Shan)
61. Roamers (The Walking Dead)
62. Rotters (The Walking Dead)
63. Screechers (Those Left Behind, Mark Tufo)
64. Shamblers (Other Than, Mia Jo Celeste)
65. Shufflers (Shufflers Card Game, Michael Sellars)
66. Skels (Zone One, Colson Whitehead)
67. Skin-Eaters (The Walking Dead)
68. Skinnies (Fractured Memories, Jo Schneider)
69. Slugs (The Reapers are the Angels, Alden Bell)
70. Sneaks (Other Than, Mia Jo Celeste)
71. Speeders (Zombie Fallout, Mark Tufo)
72. Stitches (Other Than, Mia Jo Celeste)
73. Turned (Love, Death and Tea, Will Once)
74. Twats (Hyenas, Michael Sellars)
75. Unconsecrated, The (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan)
76. Unmentionables (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)
77. Variants (The Extinction Cycle, Nicholas Sansbury Smith)
78. Vectors (Helix)
79. Walkers (The Walking Dead)
80. Wasted, The (The Walking Dead)
81. Wights (A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin)
82. Zapheads (After the Shock, Scott Nicholson)
83. Zed, The (Waking The Zed, M.L. Katz)

  Sources: Zombiepedia and TV Tropes (Not Using the ‘Z’ Word). Thanks to: The good people of Good Reads.