Zombie

Zombie (noun / dating slang)

(Also heard as: Zombied, Zombieing, Rising from the dead)

Definition: That ex or situationship who vanished off the face of the earth with zero explanation, only to shamelessly slide back into your DMs six months later acting like nothing ever happened.

Pronunciation: (Zom-Bee)

Where It Comes From: Blame Tinder, Hinge, and modern ghosting culture.

Once cutting people off without a word became the lazy norm on dating apps, a new brand of cheekiness emerged.

Someone would ignore you for half a year, get bored or lonely on a random Sunday evening, scroll back through their old chats, and drop a casual “Hey stranger” into your phone.

The internet quickly labelled these people zombies.

How People Actually Use It: It’s that massive eye-roll moment when your phone buzzes with a name you thought was dead and buried.

Zombies always follow the exact same script: they never apologise for going missing, they act like you were chatting just yesterday, and they usually drop a low-effort bait text at midnight or like a random holiday photo on your Instagram. You vent to your mates down the pub about whether you should leave them on read or tell them to get lost.

Examples in the Wild:

• “My zombie texted me again after disappearing for three months.”

  Translation: “The bloke who completely ignored my messages has randomly popped back up.”

• “I thought I was done with him, but he came back like a zombie.”

  Translation: “I thought we were finished for good, but he crawled back out of nowhere.”

• “He ignored me since May and just sent a ‘Hey you x’ at midnight—proper zombie behaviour.”

  Translation: “He vanished months ago and is now trying to rekindle things with zero effort.”

Similar Slang: Ghoster, Haunting, Submarining, Breadcrumber, Time-waster, Left on read