name
Meaning 1
A male given name from Ancient Greek.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
demon
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.
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/ˈdiː.mən/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -iːmən
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homophone: daemon
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CMU ARPABET: D IY1 M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
An evil supernatural being.
An evil being resident in or working for Hell; a devil.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
An evil supernatural being.
A false god or idol; a Satanic divinity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
An evil supernatural being.
A very wicked or malevolent person; also (in weakened sense) a mischievous person, especially a child.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
An evil supernatural being.
A source (especially personified) of great evil or wickedness; a destructive feeling or character flaw.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The demon of stupidity haunts me whenever I open my mouth.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
An evil supernatural being.
A person's fears or anxieties.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A neutral supernatural being.
A person's inner spirit or genius; a guiding or creative impulse.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A neutral supernatural being.
A tutelary deity or spirit intermediate between the major Olympian gods and mankind, especially a deified hero or the entity which supposedly guided Socrates, telling him what not to do.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Greek
Topics: human-sciences, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A neutral supernatural being.
A supernatural being not considered to be inherently evil; a (non-Christian) deity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
A neutral supernatural being.
A hypothetical entity with special abilities postulated for the sake of a thought experiment in philosophy or physics.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 11
Someone with great strength, passion or skill for a particular activity, pursuit etc.; an enthusiast.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- He’s a demon at the card tables.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
A type of patience or solitaire (card game) played in the UK and/or US.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: card-games, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 13
Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genera Notocrypta and Udaspes.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 14
Acronym of distinct electron motion particle: a quasiparticle, a type of massless neutral electron excitation associated with superconductivity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 15
Alternative spelling of daemon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
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
noun
Meaning 16
Alternative letter-case form of demon (“card game”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 17
an evil supernatural being
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: devil, fiend, daemon, daimon
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: evil spirit
Narrower terms: incubus, succubus, succuba, dybbuk, dibbuk
noun
Meaning 18
someone extremely diligent or skillful
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he worked like a demon to finish the job on time
- she's a demon at math
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: actor, doer, worker
noun
Meaning 19
a cruel wicked and inhuman person
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: monster, fiend, devil, ogre
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: unpleasant person, disagreeable person
Narrower terms: demoniac
History
Etymology
From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “ordinary citizens, common people from a district, in a city-state”).
From Middle English demon, a borrowing from Medieval Latin dēmōn, daemōn (“lar, familiar spirit, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”). Displaced native Old English sċucca and Old English þyrs. Doublet of daimon.
From distinct electron motion + -on.
From Maxwell's demon; a derivation from “disk and execution monitor” is generally considered a backronym.
Across languages
Translations
337 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: djall — evil being
- Albanian: djemën — evil being
- Albanian: qipull — evil being
- Albanian: shejtan — evil being
- Amharic: ጋኔን (ganen) — evil being
- Arabic: شَيْطَان (šayṭān) — evil being
- Arabic: شيطان (šeṭān) — evil being
- Armenian: դեւ (dew) — evil being
- Asturian: demoniu — evil being
- Asturian: diañu — evil being
- Asturian: demongriu — evil being
- Asturian: diañe — evil being
- Asturian: degorriu — evil being
- Asturian: democu — evil being
- Asturian: demochu — evil being
- Asturian: demói — evil being
- Asturian: demontre — evil being
- Asturian: demorriu — evil being
- Asturian: demu — evil being
- Asturian: diablu — evil being
- Asturian: enemigu — evil being
- Asturian: maliñu — evil being
- Asturian: malín — evil being
- Asturian: maleñu — evil being
- Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 (daēuua) — evil being
- Azerbaijani: iblis — evil being
- Azerbaijani: şeytan — evil being
- Azerbaijani: cin — evil being
- Bashkir: шайтан (şaytan) — evil being
- Bashkir: иблис (iblis) — evil being
- Belarusian: бес (bjes) — evil being
- Belarusian: дэ́ман (déman) — evil being
- Belarusian: чорт (čort) — evil being
- Bemba: icibanda class 7 — evil being
- Bengali: দৈত্য (dōitto) — evil being
- Bengali: শয়তান (śoẏotan) — evil being
- Bengali: ইবলিশ (iboliś) — evil being
- Bulgarian: де́мон (démon) — evil being
- Bulgarian: дявол (djavol) — evil being
- Burmese: နတ်ဆိုး (nathcui:) — evil being
- Catalan: dimoni — evil being
- Catalan: diable — evil being
- Chamicuro: pac̈hic̈hi — evil being
- Chamicuro: sojpayi — evil being
- Chichewa: chiŵanda — evil being
- Chichewa: mzímu — evil being
- Chinese Mandarin: 邪魔 (xiémó) — evil being
- Chinese Mandarin: 邪神 (xiéshén) — evil being
- Chinese Mandarin: 魔鬼 (móguǐ) — evil being
- Chinese Mandarin: 惡魔 /恶魔 (èmó) — evil being
- Chinese Mandarin: 妖魔 (yāomó) — evil being
- Maore Comorian: djini — evil being
- Ngazidja Comorian: djini — evil being
- Czech: démon — evil being
- Czech: čert — evil being
- Old Czech: dehna — evil being
- Dalmatian: demun — evil being
- Danish: dæmon — evil being
- Dutch: demon — evil being
- Dutch: demoon — evil being
- Dutch: kwade geest — evil being
- Dzongkha: བདུད (bdud) — evil being
- Dzongkha: འདྲེ ('dre) — evil being
- Esperanto: demono — evil being
- Estonian: deemon — evil being
- Finnish: demoni — evil being
- Finnish: daimoni — evil being
- Franco-Provençal: dèmon — evil being
- French: démon — evil being
- West-Frisian: koarthakke — evil being
- Galician: demo — evil being
- Galician: demoño — evil being
- Ge'ez: ጋንን (ganən) — evil being
- Georgian: ავი სული (avi suli) — evil being
- Georgian: ეშმაკი (ešmaḳi) — evil being
- Georgian: დემონი (demoni) — evil being
- German: Dämon — evil being
- German: Teufel — evil being
- Gothic: 𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌷𐍃𐌻 (skōhsl) — evil being
- Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌰 (unhulþa) — evil being
- Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌿𐌻𐌸𐍉 (unhulþō) — evil being
- Greek: δαίμονας (daímonas) — evil being
- Greek: δαιμόνιο (daimónio) — evil being
- Ancient Greek: δαίμων (daímōn) — evil being
- Ancient Greek: δαιμόνιον (daimónion) — evil being
- Hebrew: שֵׁד (shéd) — evil being
- Hindi: दानव (dānav) — evil being
- Hindi: दैत्य (daitya) — evil being
- Hindi: देव (dev) — evil being
- Hindi: शैतान (śaitān) — evil being
- Hindi: राक्षस (rākṣas) — evil being
- Hindi: इब्लीस (iblīs) — evil being
- Hindi: इबलीस (iblīs) — evil being
- Hindi: असुर (asur) — evil being
- White Hmong: dab — evil being
- Hungarian: démon — evil being
- Indonesian: siluman — evil being
- Irish: deamhan — evil being
- Old Irish: demon — evil being
- Old Irish: demun — evil being
- Istriot: damognio — evil being
- Italian: demone — evil being
- Italian: demonio — evil being
- Japanese: 悪魔 (akuma) — evil being
- Japanese: 悪霊 (akuryō) — evil being
- Japanese: 鬼 (oni) — evil being
- Japanese: デーモン (dēmon) — evil being
- Japanese: 妖魔 (yōma) — evil being
- Jeju: 악매 (angmae) — evil being
- Jeju: 악귀 (akgwi) — evil being
- Kashmiri: مُشران (muśrān) — evil being
- Kashmiri: دؠو (dyav) — evil being
- Kazakh: әзәзіл (äzäzıl) — evil being
- Kazakh: жын (jyn) — evil being
- Kazakh: әбілет (äbılet) — evil being
- Kazakh: ібіліс (ıbılıs) — evil being
- Kazakh: марту (martu) — evil being
- Khmer: ទេត្យ (tɛɛt) — evil being
- Khmer: បិសាច (bəysaac) — evil being
- Khmer: ពីង (piiŋ) — evil being
- Khmer: របាល (rɔbaal) — evil being
- Khmer: អសុរា (a’so’raa) — evil being
- Korean: 데몬 (demon) — evil being
- Korean: 악귀 (akgwi) — evil being
- Korean: 요마 (yoma) — evil being
- Korean: 악마 (angma) — evil being
- Central Kurdish: دێو (dêw) — evil being
- Northern Kurdish: dêw — evil being
- Southern Kurdish: دێو (dêw) — evil being
- Kyrgyz: шайтан (şaytan) — evil being
- Kyrgyz: демон (demon) — evil being
- Kyrgyz: жин (jin) — evil being
- Kyrgyz: азезил (azezil) — evil being
- Kyrgyz: ибилис (ibilis) — evil being
- Lao: ຍັກ (nyak) — evil being
- Lao: ບໍຣະສາດ (bǭ ra sāt) — evil being
- Lao: ຜີ (phī) — evil being
- Lao: ພາຽ (phāi) — evil being
- Lao: ຣັກຂະສະ (rak kha sa) — evil being
- Lao: ສວງ (sūang) — evil being
- Lao: ສັກສາດ (sak sāt) — evil being
- Lao: ອະມະນຸດ (ʼa ma nut) — evil being
- Lao: ອະສຸລະ (ʼa su la) — evil being
- Lao: ປີສາດຮ້າຍ (pī sāt hāi) — evil being
- Lao: ຜີປະກໍາ (phī pa kam) — evil being
- Lao: ຜີເສື້ອ (phī sư̄a) — evil being
- Latin: daemon — evil being
- Latin: larva — evil being
- Latvian: dēmons — evil being
- Latvian: velns — evil being
- Lithuanian: demonas — evil being
- Luxembourgish: Dämon — evil being
- Macedonian: демон (demon) — evil being
- Malagasy: devoly — evil being
- Malay: raksasa — evil being
- Malay: syaitan — evil being
- Malay: iblis — evil being
- Maltese: xitan — evil being
- Maltese: mingħul — evil being
- Manx: jouyl — evil being
- Māori: tipua — evil being
- Māori: tupua — evil being
- Māori: kikokiko — evil being
- Māori: atua kikokiko — evil being
- Moksha: демон (demon) — evil being
- Mongolian: буг (bug) — evil being
- Mongolian: чөтгөр (čötgör) — evil being
- Nahuatl: tzitzimitl — evil being
- Classical Nahuatl: tzitzimītl — evil being
- Navajo: chʼį́įdii — evil being
- Ngarrindjeri: muldarpi — evil being
- Norman: dêmon — evil being
- Norwegian Bokmål: demon — evil being
- Norwegian Nynorsk: demon — evil being
- Occitan: demòni — evil being
- Odia: ଅସୁର (asura) — evil being
- Ojibwe: maji-manidoo — evil being
- Church Slavic: бѣсъ (běsŭ) — evil being
- Church Slavic: ⰱⱑⱄⱏ (běsŭ) — evil being
- Old English: dēofol — evil being
- Old Galician-Portuguese: demo — evil being
- Old Galician-Portuguese: demonio — evil being
- Old Galician-Portuguese: diaboo — evil being
- Old Galician-Portuguese: diablo — evil being
- Old Galician-Portuguese: diabre — evil being
- Persian: شیطان (šeytân) — evil being
- Persian: دیو (dêv) — evil being
- Persian: ابلیس (eblis) — evil being
- Polish: bies — evil being
- Polish: demon — evil being
- Polish: czort — evil being
- Polish: czart — evil being
- Polish: ciort — evil being
- Brazilian Portuguese: demônio — evil being
- European Portuguese: demónio — evil being
- Punjabi: ਪਿਸ਼ਾਚ (piśāc) — evil being
- Quechua: supay — evil being
- Romanian: demon — evil being
- Russian: бес (bes) — evil being
- Russian: де́мон (démon) — evil being
- Russian: чёрт (čort) — evil being
- Russian: шайта́н (šajtán) — evil being
- Sanskrit: असुर (asura) — evil being
- Sanskrit: राक्षस (rākṣasa) — evil being
- Sanskrit: दैत्य (daitya) — evil being
- Santali: ᱵᱷᱩᱛ (bhut) — evil being
- Scottish Gaelic: deamhan — evil being
- Serbo-Croatian: демон — evil being
- Serbo-Croatian: demon — evil being
- Slovak: démon — evil being
- Slovak: čert — evil being
- Slovene: demon — evil being
- Spanish: demonio — evil being
- Spanish: shapshico — evil being
- Spanish: mengue — evil being
- Spanish: demonche — evil being
- Spanish: demontre — evil being
- Spanish: diantre — evil being
- Spanish: dianche — evil being
- Sumerian: 𒀉𒉺 (Á.PA) — evil being
- Swahili: pepo — evil being
- Swedish: demon — evil being
- Tagalog: demonyo — evil being
- Tajik: шайтон (šayton) — evil being
- Tajik: дев (dev) — evil being
- Tajik: иблис (iblis) — evil being
- Tatar: шайтан (şaytan) — evil being
- Tatar: иблис (iblis) — evil being
- Tatar: җен (cen) — evil being
- Thai: มาร (maan) — evil being
- Thai: ปิศาจ (bpì-sàat) — evil being
- Thai: ภูต (pûut) — evil being
- Thai: มาห์ (maa) — evil being
- Thai: อสูร (à-sǔun) — evil being
- Thai: เปรต (bprèet) — evil being
- Thai: แทตย์ (tɛ̂ɛt) — evil being
- Thai: ปีศาจร้าย — evil being
- Thai: อสุรกาย (à-sù-rá-gaai) — evil being
- Thai: ภูติผีปีศาจ — evil being
- Thai: ภูตผีปิศาจ — evil being
- Tigrinya: ጋኔን (ganen) — evil being
- Turkish: demon — evil being
- Turkish: iblis — evil being
- Turkish: şeytan — evil being
- Turkish: cin — evil being
- Ottoman Turkish: شیطان (şeytân) — evil being
- Turkmen: şeýtan — evil being
- Turkmen: iblis — evil being
- Ukrainian: біс (bis) — evil being
- Ukrainian: де́мон (démon) — evil being
- Ukrainian: чорт (čort) — evil being
- Ulwa (Nicaragua): nâwalh — evil being
- Ulwa (Nicaragua): tingsuba — evil being
- Urdu: دیو (dev) — evil being
- Urdu: شیطان (śaitān) — evil being
- Urdu: ابلیس (iblīs) — evil being
- Uyghur: شەيتان (sheytan) — evil being
- Uyghur: ئىبلىس (iblis) — evil being
- Uyghur: جىن (jin) — evil being
- Uzbek: shayton — evil being
- Uzbek: jin — evil being
- Uzbek: iblis — evil being
- Vietnamese: quỷ — evil being
- Vietnamese: ma quỷ — evil being
- Vietnamese: yêu ma — evil being
- Vietnamese: ma quái — evil being
- Vietnamese: ác quỷ — evil being
- Welsh: cythraul — evil being
- Yiddish: נישט־גוטער (nisht-guter) — evil being
- Yiddish: שד (sheyd) — evil being
- Yiddish: קליפּה (klipe) — evil being
- Yoruba: àǹjànnú — evil being
- Bulgarian: демон (demon) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Chinese Mandarin: 惡魔 /恶魔 (èmó) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Ngazidja Comorian: djini — false god, Satanic divinity
- Dutch: duivel — false god, Satanic divinity
- Dutch: afgod — false god, Satanic divinity
- French: diable — false god, Satanic divinity
- Georgian: დემონი (demoni) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Georgian: ეშმაკი (ešmaḳi) — false god, Satanic divinity
- German: Dämon — false god, Satanic divinity
- Greek: δαίμονας (daímonas) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Greek: δαιμόνιο (daimónio) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Ancient Greek: δαίμων (daímōn) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Ancient Greek: δαιμόνιον (daimónion) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Haitian Creole: dyab — false god, Satanic divinity
- Hebrew: שָׂטָן (satán) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Hindi: राक्षस (rākṣas) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Hindi: शैतान (śaitān) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Hindi: देव (dev) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Hindi: इबलीस (iblīs) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Indonesian: iblis — false god, Satanic divinity
- Indonesian: setan — false god, Satanic divinity
- Indonesian: dajal — false god, Satanic divinity
- Italian: Demonio — false god, Satanic divinity
- Japanese: 悪魔 (akuma) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Japanese: 鬼神 — false god, Satanic divinity
- Moksha: демон (demon) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Old English: dēofol — false god, Satanic divinity
- Persian: شیطان (šaytân) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Persian: دیو (dêv) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Persian: ابلیس (eblis) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Old Persian: 𐎭𐎡𐎺 (d-i-v) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Brazilian Portuguese: demônio — false god, Satanic divinity
- European Portuguese: demónio — false god, Satanic divinity
- Romanian: drac — false god, Satanic divinity
- Romanian: драк (drac) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Russian: бес (bes) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Russian: де́мон (démon) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Russian: чёрт (čort) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Sanskrit: राक्षस (rākṣasa) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Scottish Gaelic: deamhan — false god, Satanic divinity
- Swahili: pepo — false god, Satanic divinity
- Swedish: demon — false god, Satanic divinity
- Swedish: djävul — false god, Satanic divinity
- Thai: มาร (maan) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Ottoman Turkish: شیطان (şeytân) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Yiddish: שד (sheyd) — false god, Satanic divinity
- Bulgarian: дух (duh) — inner spirit or genius
- Hebrew: מגיד (magid) — inner spirit or genius
- Italian: demonio — inner spirit or genius
- Russian: дух (dux) — inner spirit or genius
- Swahili: pepo — inner spirit or genius
- Bulgarian: дявол (djavol) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Chinese Mandarin: 惡魔 /恶魔 (èmó) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Hebrew: שֵׁד (shéd) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Hindi: राक्षस (rākṣas) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Italian: demonio — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Japanese: 鬼 (oni) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Japanese: 達人 (tatsujin) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Romanian: demon — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Sanskrit: राक्षस (rākṣasa) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Swahili: shetani — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Swedish: baddare — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Swedish: överdängare — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Telugu: రాక్షసుడు (rākṣasuḍu) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
- Yiddish: מזיק (mazek) — person with great energy or skill, enthusiast
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