Dictionary

shaitan en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃeɪtan/ (Multicultural-London-English)

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān, “satan, devil”). Doublet of shetani and Satan.

Meanings

1. a demon/devil; or evil jinn.
   • '... hence, we are always malā'ika (angels), forgetting that ashayṭān was once a malāk (angel). 2014, Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad, Burning issues in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, page 141:
   • '... 'A man and a jinni became friends. One day, the man asked the jinni, 'How come you look like a real human being?' [The jinni answered,]'We... shayāṭīn 'devils/demons' appear to people in whatever form we want, and we disappear whenever we want.'. 2014, Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad, Burning issues in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, page 140:
2. (India, archaic) A dust storm.
   • The dust borne in these shaitans of wind is often carried for vast distances […] 1925, Henry Michael Collins, From pigeon post to wireless, page 158:
   • Dust columns are called shaitans or devils by the Beloochees, who have a superstitious feeling with regard to them. 1888, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:

Forms

Relateds

jann · nasnas · jinn · ghoul · angel