See also: خن

Arabic

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Root
ج ن ن (j n n)
7 terms

Etymology 1

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Compare Hebrew גָּנַן (gānán, to defend, to cover).

Verb

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جَنَّ (janna) I (non-past يَجُنُّ (yajunnu), verbal noun جَنّ (jann) or جُنُون (junūn))

  1. (transitive) to cover, to hide, to conceal, to veil
  2. (transitive) to envelop, to enshroud, to cloak, to screen
  3. (transitive) to descend, to fall, to become night
    • 11 Century CE, Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, ترقب إذا جن الظلام زيارتي
      تَرَقَّبْ إِذَا جَنَّ الظَّلَامُ زِيَارَتِي / فَإِنِّي رَأَيْتُ اللَّيْلَ أَكْتَمَ لِلسِّرِّ
      taraqqab ʔiḏā janna ẓ-ẓalāmu ziyāratī / fa-ʔinnī raʔaytu l-layla ʔaktama li-s-sirri
      Await, when darkness falls, my visit. For I found the night to be a better keeper of secrets.
Conjugation
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Etymology 2

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Formally from the root ج ن ن (j-n-n), though most likely a back-formation from جِنِّي (jinnī), derived from Classical Syriac ܓܢܝ (gnē, spirit, genie), or its emphatic form Aramaic גניא (ginnāyā) or Classical Syriac ܓܢܝܐ (genyā), also meaning "a tutelary deity" or "Astaroth idols". Compare Latin genius.

Noun

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جِنّ (jinnm (collective, singulative جَانّ m or f (jānn) or جِنِّيّ m (jinniyy) or جِنِّيَّة f (jinniyya), plural جِنّ (jinn) or جِنَّة (jinna) or جِنَّان (jinnān) or جَوَان (jawān))

  1. (collective) spiritual or otherwise unseen, undetectable, masked, or morphed beings that may be benevolent or helpful (agathodaemons, eudaemons), neutral, or malevolent (cacodemons); jinn, genies, genii, demons.
    Synonyms: جِنَّة (jinna), جَوَان (jawān), جِنَّان (jinnān)
  2. (collective) any mythical beings in general (such as fairies, satyrs, nymphs, elves, goblins, and sprites)
  3. (informal, in the singular) a genie, a jann, one of the jinn(s).
Usage notes
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In Arabian and Islamic mythology and demonology, the genies (alternatively referred to in English using the transliteration jinn), are conceptualized as a race that lives on earth alongside humans and beasts. Genies, like humans, are not deemed wholly evil or good, but they are said to possess powers that screen them from humankind, such as shapeshifting, which allows them to take up the form of animals (usually snakes and serpents) or even humans. Evil, godless, malicious, or otherwise harmful genies may influence the world indirectly (often through the works of human agents, such as sorcerers and witches) or directly (through the actions of the genies themselves). For example, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, one of the companions of Muhammad, is said to have been supposedly assassinated by a genie who shot him with an arrow while he was urinating alone in the desert, and the second Caliph ʽUmar ibn al-Ḵaṭṭāb, as reported by Al-Munāwi in his Fayḍ al-Qadīr ("The Flow of the Ablest"), struck dead a غُول (ḡūl) (a kind of جِنّ (jinn)) with his sword, describing the creature as being "with a form like a human but with legs like those of a donkey". The جِنّ (jinn) are therefore not to be confused with the race of otherworldly creatures trapped in oil lamps as popularized in English, which, in Arabic, would be only a subtype of جِنّ (jinn), like the قُطْرُب (quṭrub, lycanthrope) and the سِعْلَاء (siʕlāʔ, succubus) and the chiefly Egyptian نَدَّاهَة (siren). For more information, see the Wikipedia article on Jinn.

The word is also sometimes indiscriminately used when translating the non-Arabic names of other mythological beings (especially fairies and elves). This, however, often creates much confusion, and so various Arabicized forms of the original denominations may be used to avoid this.

Declension
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Descendants
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  • Swahili: jini
  • Kazakh: жын (jyn)
See also
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Etymology 3

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Denominal verb from جِنّ (jinn, jinn; spirit, demon), leveled to the root ج ن ن (j-n-n).

Verb

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جُنَّ (junna) I (passive-only, first-person singular past جُنِنْتُ (junintu), non-past يُجَنُّ (yujannu), verbal noun جَنّ (jann) or جُنُون (junūn) or جِنَّة (jinna))

  1. (passive voice) to be possessed
    1. (passive voice) to seem or act as if possessed, to be insane, to be crazy, to be mad, to be deranged
    2. (passive voice) to be obsessed; to be infatuated
Conjugation
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Etymology 4

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Noun

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جَنّ (jannm

  1. verbal noun of جُنَّ (junna) (form I)
  2. verbal noun of جَنَّ (janna) (form I)
Declension
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Baluchi

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Etymology

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From Proto-Iranian *ǰánHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ǰánHs, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn.

Noun

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جن (jan)

  1. woman

Persian

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Arabic جِنّ (jinn).

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading? jinn
Dari reading? jinn
Iranian reading? jenn
Tajik reading? jinn

Noun

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Dari جن
Iranian Persian
Tajik ҷин, ҷинн

جن (jenn) (plural جن‌ها (jenn-hâ))

  1. jinn, genie, demon, ghost
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Etymology 2

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From or cognate with Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀 (yaona, way), from Proto-Iranian *Háy (cognate with Pashto يون (yūn, movement; walking; going), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Háy, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey-.

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading? jan
Dari reading? jan
Iranian reading? jan
Tajik reading? jan

Noun

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جن (jan) (plural جن‌ها (jan-hâ))

  1. side
  2. way
    Synonyms: راه (râh), سو ()
    • c. 1000, Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi, The Book of Kings :
      پرندوش از این جن سواری گذشت
      که لرزید ازو سر به سر بوم و دشت
      parandôš az ên jan savârê guzašt
      ka larzîd azô sar-ba-sar bûm u dašt

Punjabi

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Etymology

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Inherited from Sanskrit जन (jana, race; people), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ánHas, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os.

Noun

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جن (janm (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਨ)

  1. people, populace; nation
  2. race, stock
  3. person, individual

Declension

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Declension of جن
dir. sg. جَن (jan)
dir. pl. جَن (jan)
singular plural
direct جَن (jan) جَن (jan)
oblique جَن (jan) جَناں (janāṉ)
vocative جَنا (janā) جَنو (jano)
ablative جَنوں (janoṉ) جَناں (janāṉ)
locative جَنے (jane) جَنِیں (janīṉ)
instrumental جَنوں (janoṉ)

References

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  • جن”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2024
  • Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “جن”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
  • Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “jána”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 281

Urdu

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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جن (jin, jinnm (formal plural جنات, Hindi spelling जिन्न)

  1. jinn
  2. demon

See also

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