ogbanjen.
/əʊˈban(d)ʒeɪ/, U.S. /oʊˈbɑn(d)ʒeɪ/, West African English /ɔˈɡbandʒe/ In Nigeria: a child believed by the Igbo people to die repeatedly and be continually reincarnated and born to the same parents. Also: a reincarnated child or spirit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [noun] > that re-enters womb after death
ogbanje1952
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [adjective] > that re-enters womb after death
ogbanje1952
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > malignant monster > [noun] > zombie
carrionc1460
zombie1928
ogbanje1976
1952 Afr. Affairs 51 99 Another evil concerns ogbanje, the child ‘doomed’ by the juju-man at birth, who later goes his own sweet way.
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart ix. 68 The child was an ogbanje, one of those wicked children who, when they died, entered their mothers' wombs to be born again.
1966 Times 25 Aug. 14/3 She is an ogbanje, a free spirit; she is the Iska of the title of the book, which means the wind.
1976 CRC Jrnl. July 18/1 His daughter Aku-nna is so thin and delicate that it is even suggested that she might be an ‘ogbanje’, a ‘living dead’, a child only on loan to this world who will be called back to the other world while still young.
1986 T. O. Echewa Crippled Dancer ii. vii. 139 The..necromancer..was brought in to prepare ogbanje medicine and see what he could do.
2000 Wasafiri Autumn 77/3 An elder declares that the woman found dead at B Beach is an ogbanje, a reborn, since she died with a smile on her face.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1952