Wight

A wight is a being or a thing. That’s its literal definition.

In Old English, it could refer to anything in existence - anything at all. But possibly due to the influence of the Anglo-Norman word meaning "creature," Modern English has redefined the term to refer to the undead.

It acquired a supernatural connotation when used to describe creatures such as Grendel and the dragon in the legend of Beowulf. It wasn’t always a negative thing - it was even used to describe supernatural aspects such as saints and other figures from the Christian faith, and at one time was a gendered term for one’s beloved.

Today, however, it is almost exclusively used to describe the living dead, ghouls who feed on dead flesh and are nigh unkillable. Some legends say they are created by necromancers, forced to serve the will of the one who raised them.

Others claim they create themselves.

Whatever the case, they are complex and strange, but only as dangerous as the necromancer controlling them.

In my books, I made the pathologist a wight because who knows the dead better than a literal ghoul?