Standard Lemma guide

daemon

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdiː.mən/
  • rhymes with -iːmən
  • /ˈdiːmən/
  • /ˈdeɪmən/
  • rhymes with -eɪmən
  • CMU ARPABET: D IY1 M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: D EY1 M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A minor deity or divinity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, sciences

Examples

  • 2018, Carolyn Graves-Brown, Daemons and Spirits in Ancient Egypt, University of Wales Press, page 46, On some apotropaic wands the hippopotamus daemon bites or devours a person.88 On a well-known New Kingdom papyrus, Taweret, who is named, is listed amongst evil daemons.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A muse, a personified source of inspiration, especially one that also causes anguish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 2015, Harold Bloom, The Daemon Knows, Penguin Random House (Random House), eBook edition, unnumbered page, Coleridge, deep in daemons, looked to them for his poetic power: They gave him Kubla Khan, Christabel, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He welcomed his daemon or genius and yet feared it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An idea depicted as an entity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Archaic spelling of demon.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A process (a running program) that does not have a controlling terminal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Unix

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

a person who is part mortal and part god

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: demigod

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: deity, divinity, god, immortal

Narrower terms: Adonis

7

noun

Meaning 7

an evil supernatural being

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: devil, fiend, demon, daimon

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: evil spirit

Narrower terms: incubus, succubus, succuba, dybbuk, dibbuk

History

Etymology

A borrowing of Latin daemōn (“tutelary deity”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, tutelary deity”).

A reference to Maxwell's demon. The putative derivation from "disk and execution monitor" is generally considered a backronym.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: démon — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Finnish: taustaprosessi — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Finnish: palveluprosessi — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Finnish: daemoni — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • French: démon — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • French: daemon — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • German: Hintergrundprogramm — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Greek: δαίμων (daímon) — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Greek: δαίμονας (daímonas) — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Irish: daeman — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Japanese: デーモン (dēmon) — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Russian: де́мон (démon) — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Spanish: demonio — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Swedish: demon — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Turkish: artalan süreci — computing: process with no controlling terminal
  • Ukrainian: де́мон (démon) — computing: process with no controlling terminal