Meaning & use
jinn
Last updated
Meanings
nounpluralreligion
In Arabic and Islamic tradition, beings made of smokeless fire, living alongside humans, who can be helpful or harmful.
Grammar: Treated as a plural: the jinn are said to live in deserts; the singular is jinni or djinni.
Patterns
- the jinn are
- tales of the jinn
Stories of the jinn are told across the Middle East.
In the tale, the merchant offended the jinn and lost his fortune.
The scholar explained that the jinn appear in the Quran.
nouncountablerare
A single spirit of this kind, as in the popular story of a wish-granting spirit living in a lamp.
Grammar: In some writing jinn is used for one being; jinni or genie is more common for a single one.
Patterns
- a jinn in a lamp
The old story describes a jinn trapped inside a bottle for centuries.
A jinn offered the boy three wishes.
The children dressed as a jinn for the school play.
Word forms
| singular | jinni |
|---|---|
| alternative singular | djinni |
Common combinations
- tales of the jinn
- The market storyteller knew many tales of the jinn.
- jinn and humans
- The text describes jinn and humans living side by side.
- evil jinn
- The legend tells of an evil jinn in the ruins.
- a jinn in a lamp
- The story of a jinn in a lamp is known worldwide.
Synonyms and how they differ
- genie
- Genie is the Westernized single-spirit version of the word, usually a wish-granter, whereas jinn refers to the wider tradition.
- spirit
- Spirit is a vague general word, while jinn names a particular type of being in Islamic belief.
- demon
- Demon implies evil, but jinn may be good, bad or neutral.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: jinn or gin?
jinn vs gin
Gin is a clear alcoholic drink that sounds the same as jinn in speech but has no connection to the spirits.
Practice
Which word is the usual English singular of jinn?
Choose one answer.
Jinn is a collective plural, and jinni is the singular. Jinns and jinnies are not standard, and jinnic is not a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “jinn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.