Jinnis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Supernatural beings from Arabian mythology often believed to possess magical powers ; entities often depicted as invisible spirits capable of influencing human affairs
2. Mythical creatures in Middle Eastern folklore said to have extraordinary abilities ; invisible entities that can exert control or grant wishes in various traditions
3. Legendary spirits in Islamic culture portrayed as powerful shape-shifters ; beings described as unseen forces that interact mysteriously with the material world

Etymology: "Jinnis" is simply the plural of "jinni," the form English borrowed directly from Arabic "jinniyy," an adjective-turned-noun derived from "jinn," the collective name for a class of beings in Arabic belief. The Arabic root "j-n-n" carries the sense of hiding or concealment, which is why the jinn are often described as creatures that exist out of human sight, though the link between the root and the beings is a matter of Arabic lexical tradition rather than a fixed etymological certainty. English speakers mostly know the word through its later Western popularity, but the plural "jinnis" appears where writers want to mark the English plural explicitly rather than use the Arabic plural "jinn," which is itself the form most often seen in English. The singular "jinni" is the form that gave rise to the familiar modern word "genie" through French, so the two English words share one Arabic ancestor.

Synonyms: genies, djinns, spirits, demons, supernatural beings