daemon

See also: Dämon and dæmon

English

Alternative forms

• dæmon

Etymology 1

From Latin daemon (“genius, lar, guardian spirit”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːmən/
• Rhymes: -iːmən
• Hyphenation: dae‧mon

Noun

daemon (plural daemons)

1. (uncommon) Alternative form of demon.

Derived terms

• daemonic

Related terms

• cacodaemon
• cacodaemonic
• cacodaemoniacal
• cacodemon
• cacodemonic
• daimon

Etymology 2

From Maxwell's demon; a derivation from “disk and execution monitor” is generally considered a backronym.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdiːmən/ or IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪmən/
• Rhymes: -iːmən or Rhymes: -eɪmən
• Hyphenation: dae‧mon

Noun

daemon (plural daemons)

1. (computing, Unix) A process (a running program) that does not have a controlling terminal.

Translations

computing: a process that does not have a controlling terminal

• Finnish: taustaprosessi, daemoni
• French: démon (fr) m (ISO/IEC 2382-28:1995)
• German: Hintergrundprogramm n
• Greek: δαίμων (el) m (daímon), δαίμονας (el) m (daímonas)
• Irish: daeman m

• Japanese: デーモン (dēmon)
• Russian: де́мон (ru) m (démon)
• Spanish: demonio (es) m
• Swedish: demon (sv) c
• Turkish: artalan süreci (tr)

Usage notes

• (Unix): Often a daemon will be a server.

See also

• background process

Anagrams

• Modane, Modena, moaned, modena, nomade

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Japanese

Romanization

daemon

1. Rōmaji transcription of ダエモン

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, god, protective spirit”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdae̯.mon/, [ˈdae̯.mõ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.mon/, [ˈdɛː.mon]

Noun

daemon m (genitive daemōnis); third declension

1. a genius loci, a lar, the protective spirit or godling of a place or household
2. (astrology) the 11th of the 12 signs of the zodiac
3. (ecclesiastical) a demon

Inflection

Third declension i-stem.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	daemon	daemōnēs
genitive	daemōnis	daemōnium
dative	daemōnī	daemōnibus
accusative	daemōnem	daemōnēs
ablative	daemōne	daemōnibus
vocative	daemon	daemōnēs

Derived terms

• daemonicus

Related terms

• daemonium

Descendants

• Aromanian: demun
• English: daemon, demon
• Portuguese: demo
• Translingual: Felis daemon

References

• daemon in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “daemon”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “daemon” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• daemon in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia^[1]
• daemon in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers