means A mythical undead creature that survives by drinking the blood of the living, often depicted as nocturnal, pale, and uneasy around sunlight, garlic, and crosses.

from English borrowed it in the early 18th century, probably via French 'vampire' or German 'Vampir,' from Serbian 'vampir' — the word riding west alongside genuine Eastern European folklore panics about corpses that wouldn't stay dead. Its deeper roots are debated: many trace it to a Slavic source, with some linguists suggesting a possible connection to a Turkic word for 'witch' or 'evil being,' though no single origin is certain. The bloodsucking aristocrat we picture today owes more to 19th-century fiction than to the older peasant superstitions.