Learn Arabic › A2 › شَيْطان
شَيْطان
devil /ʃajˈtˤaːn/
nounA2#822 most common
Also: demon, Satan, evil spirit
Example sentences
الشَّيْطانُ شِرِّيرٌ.
The devil is evil.
أَخافُ مِنَ الشَّيْطانِ.
I am afraid of the devil.
هٰذا الوَلَدُ شَيْطانٌ صَغيرٌ.
This boy is a little devil.
يَقولونَ إِنَّ الشَّيْطانَ يُوَسْوِسُ لِلنّاسِ.
They say the devil whispers to people.
طَرَدَ الشَّيْخُ الشَّياطينَ مِنَ البَيْتِ المَهْجورِ.
The sheikh drove the demons out of the abandoned house.
يَرى المُفَسِّرونَ أَنَّ الشَّيْطانَ لا سُلطانَ لَهُ على المَرءِ إِلّا بِقَدْرِ ما يُصغي إلى وَساوِسِه.
Commentators hold that the devil has no power over a person except to the degree that one listens to his whispers.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | شَيْطانٌ | شَياطينُ |
| Genitive | شَيْطانٍ | شَياطينَ |
| Accusative | شَيْطاناً | شَياطينَ |
| Vocative | يا شَيْطانُ | يا شَياطينُ |
Word family
شَياطينdevils, demons (plural)
شَيْطانِيّsatanic, devilish
شَيْطَنةmischief, devilry
تَشَيْطَنَto behave like a devil, to be mischievous
شَيْطانةshe-devil
Etymology
Arab grammarians derive shayṭān from the root sh-ṭ-n, meaning to be far or remote, so the devil is the one cast far from God's mercy. A second classical view ties the name to the verb shāṭa, to burn or to perish. The word also belongs to a wider Semitic family for the adversary, seen in Hebrew śāṭān and Syriac sāṭānā. Arabic is a Semitic language, so there is no Indo-European root.
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