demon
Pronunciation: /ˈdiː.mən/
The English word “demon” has 12 meanings listed here.
noun
- An evil being resident in or working for Hell; a devil.
- A false god or idol; a Satanic divinity.
- A very wicked or malevolent person; also (in weakened sense) a mischievous person, especially a child.
- A source (especially personified) of great evil or wickedness; a destructive feeling or character flaw.
- A person's fears or anxieties.
- A person's inner spirit or genius; a guiding or creative impulse.
- 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.
- A supernatural being not considered to be inherently evil; a (non-Christian) deity.
- A hypothetical entity with special abilities postulated for the sake of a thought experiment in philosophy or physics.
- Someone with great strength, passion or skill for a particular activity, pursuit etc.; an enthusiast.
- A type of patience or solitaire (card game) played in the UK and/or US.
- Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genera Notocrypta and Udaspes.
Etymology
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 (“evil spirit”) and Old English þyrs (“ogre or monster”). Doublet of daimon.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.