jinn

[jin]

noun, plural jinns, (especially collectively) jinn. Islamic Mythology.

any of a class of spirits, lower than the angels, capable of appearing in human and animal forms and influencing humankind for either good or evil.

Also jin·ni [jin-ee] /ˈdʒɪn i/, jin, djin, djinn, djin·ni.

Origin of jinn

1675–85; plural of Arabic jinnī demon

Can be confusedgin jinn

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for jinn

Contemporary Examples of jinn

Will University of Tehran political science students be obliged to game out strategies against a jinn?
Iran Cleric: Jews Use Sorcery to Spy
IranWire
July 5, 2014

Historical Examples of jinn

Imm Hanfa doubted whether the jinn who are Muslims will be rewarded.
The Faith of Islam
Edward Sell
If you go on drawing every day I am sure you will learn how to make that Jinn obedient.
Armorel of Lyonesse
Walter Besant
He cursed the name of Hiram, and defied him to appear to him as god or jinn or ghost.
A King of Tyre
James M. Ludlow
The Jinn are not gods but fairies, and we have heard of fairy funerals.
Magic and Religion
Andrew Lang
Genius and Jinn, like Fairy and Peri, is a curious coincidence.
The Fairy Mythology
Thomas Keightley

British Dictionary definitions for jinn

jinn

noun

(often functioning as singular) the plural of jinni

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for jinn

1680s, djen, from Arabic jinn, collective plural, "demons, spirits, angels." The proper singular is jinni. Cf. genie.