Devil
nounA supreme evil spirit, or any wicked or mischievous being or person.
How to spell devil
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce devil
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does devil mean?
- nounA supreme evil spirit, or any wicked or mischievous being or person.
- verbTo prepare food with hot or sharp seasoning, such as mustard or pepper.
Devil in a sentence
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noun
The old painting showed a horned devil tempting a traveller.
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verb
The recipe asks you to devil the eggs with mustard and paprika.
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noun
In the play, a clever devil bargains for the merchant's soul.
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verb
She likes to devil leftover chicken with a sharp, spicy coating.
Where does devil come from?
Language of origin: Greek
The word travels back through Old English deofol, which the Anglo-Saxons took from the Latin diabolus. Latin in turn had borrowed it from the Greek diabolos, meaning 'slanderer' or 'accuser', a noun built on the verb diaballein, literally 'to throw across' and so 'to fling accusations at someone'. Early Christian writers used this Greek term to translate the Hebrew satan, 'the adversary', and that theological sense is what carried the word into the Germanic languages. By the time it settled into English it had become a single, compact word for the chief evil spirit, and later for any wicked or mischievous person. The spelling trap is the unstressed second syllable, which sounds like a vague 'uhl' but is written with an i; remembering the Latin diabolus, with its clear vowels, helps anchor that letter.
How the word is built
- devil (from Latin diabolus, slanderer/accuser); a single unanalysable root in modern English, no separable prefix or suffix
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