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Is that jinni or jinn? Djinni or djinn? Adopted from an Arabic word for demon (usually represented in our alphabet as jinnī), this word is spelled a variety of ways in English—including genie, a spelling that comes from the same Arabic word but by way of French. All of those variant spellings are used to describe a supernatural spirit from Arabic mythology that is made of fire or air and can assume human or animal form. Mythology holds that jinn (that's the plural of jinni) love to punish humans for any harm done to them and that they are the cause of many accidents and diseases.
Examples of jinni in a Sentence
Big Think, 13 Dec. 2024
The jinni has kept the woman locked in a glass chest, deep in the sea, but that hasn’t stopped her from sleeping with ninety-eight other men.
—Yasmine Al-Sayyad, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
Traditionally, jinn aren't seen as good or evil, and that moral ambiguity carries over to the series.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 23 June 2019
Next to me was Said Suleiman Mohammed, herbalist and jinni hunter.
—Justin Fornal, National Geographic, 29 Jan. 2016
Although they are believed to exist in an endless variety of manifestations, negative and positive, jinn are most commonly thought to invade the homes and bodies of humans to cause distress.
—Justin Fornal, National Geographic, 29 Jan. 2016
Cite this Entry
“Jinni.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jinni. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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