Meaning and Origin
What does the name Demon mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Demon
User Submitted Origins
Hebrew
49%
English
44%
Indian (Sanskrit)
3%
Turkish
3%
French
3%
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun De"mon
Senses
- [Gr. Antiq] A spirit, or immaterial being, holding a middle place between men and deities in pagan mythology."The demon kind is of an intermediate nature between the divine and the human." [Sydenham.]
- One's genius; a tutelary spirit or internal voice; as, the demon of Socrates. Alt. spell.: dæmon
- An evil spirit; a devil."That same demon that hath gulled thee thus." [Shak.]
Etymology: F. démon, L. daemon a spirit, an evil spirit, fr. Gr. dai`mwn a divinity; of uncertain origin
Other Dictionary Sources
- An evil supernatural being
- Someone extremely diligent or skillful ("he worked like a demon to finish the job on time" and "she's a demon at math")
- A cruel wicked and inhuman person
Wiktionary
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”). Doublet of daimon.
- An evil supernatural spirit.
- An evil spirit resident in or working for Hell; a devil. [from 10th c.]
- (now chiefly historical) A false god or idol; a Satanic divinity. [from 10th c.]
- A very wicked or malevolent person; also (in weakened sense) a mischievous person, especially a child. [from 16th c.]
- A source (especially personified) of great evil or wickedness; a destructive feeling or character flaw. [from 17th c.]
- The of stupidity haunts me whenever I open my mouth.
- (in the plural) A person's fears or anxieties. [from 19th c.]
- A neutral supernatural spirit.
- A person's inner spirit or genius; a guiding or creative impulse. [from 14th c.]
- (Greek mythology) 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. [from 16th c.]
- A spirit not considered to be inherently evil; a (non-Christian) deity or supernatural being. [from 19th c.]
- An 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. [from 19th c.]
- He’s a at the card tables.
- (Britain, card games) A form of patience (known as Canfield in the US). [from 19th c.]
- Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genera Notocrypta and Udaspes.
demon was also found in the following language(s): Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Middle English, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Romanian, and Serbo-Croatian