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Ah·ri·man

(ärĭ-mən)

Ahura Mazda's adversary, the chief spirit of darkness and evil in Zoroastrianism.

[Persian ahriman, from Middle Persian ahraman, from Avestan aŋrō mainiiuš, the evil spirit : aŋra-, evil; akin to Sanskrit asra-, painful (both Avestan and Sanskrit, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *asra-, of unknown origin) + mainiiuš, spirit; see men-¹ in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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