satanic

Etymology

It is formed from English Satan + -ic.^[2][3][4] The OED notes the earlier satanical, and compares Byzantine Greek Σατανικός (Satanikós), post-classical Latin satanicus (6th century), French satanique (late 15th century), Spanish satánico (1542) and Italian satanico.^[2] Merriam-Webster, Klein and Dictionary.com instead take the adjective from the Greek form.^[5][6][7] Satan itself goes back through Latin and Greek to Biblical Hebrew שָׂטָן (śāṭān, “adversary”).^[8][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to Satan, or being the Devil or a devil: 1544, in George Joye's Present Consolation for the Sufferers of Persecution.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1667, in Milton's Paradise Lost,^[3][5] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 17th century,^[4] but the OED's revised entry has it more than a century earlier.^[2] Satanical is older still, from 1534.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "characteristic of Satan; devilish, wicked, cruel" followed within a few years, in 1556,^[2] though Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date the general sense "extremely wicked" only to the late 18th century, when the word came to be written usually without a capital.^[3][4] From 1791 it was also used of a look or sound reminiscent of the conventional picture of Satan, as in a satanic face or laugh.^[2][5] In 1821 Southey gave the name Satanic school to Byron, Shelley and their imitators, whose work he accused of impiety and immorality.^[2][4] The sense "engaged in the worship of Satan" is recorded from 1868,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford records phrases such as satanic abuse.^[4]

Timeline

• 1544 – of or relating to Satan.^[2]
• 1556 – devilish, wicked, cruel.^[2]
• 1667 – of Satan, in Milton's Paradise Lost.^[3][5]
• 1791 – reminiscent of Satan in appearance or sound.^[2]
• 1821 – Satanic school, of Byron, Shelley and their followers.^[2][4]
• 1868 – connected with the worship of Satan.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to Satan or the Devil; often written with a capital.^[9][5][2]
2. Connected with the worship of Satan; satanist: satanic rituals.^[2][5]
3. Extremely wicked or cruel; diabolical: a satanic scheme to poison the wells.^[9][5][2]
4. Looking or sounding like the traditional image of Satan: a thin, satanic grin.^[5][2]

Word family

• satanically
• satanicalness
• unsatanic

Related words

• Satan
• satanical
• satanism

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins