Jinn de

Jinn de (phonetically pronounced jenn deh) described verbatim by informant:

“A jinn de can be like a demon. Jahan is hell, jahanam is hell. A jin de can just be like a little shit. Like that’s literally it translates to like ‘Oh he’s being just a little jinn de’; ‘You’re being just a little shit’ like to a like little kid, ‘You’re being such a jinn de’ like you’re being such a devil, like a little devil.”

This nickname or folk metaphor relating misbehaved children to little devils or demons as my informant described jinn de to be. She says it’s said to children mostly when they’re acting out. Jinn has different manifestations in Arabic and Islamic cultures, one of which is like a genie, though I have only heard it spoken about in demonic terms. I don’t believe my informant think of the jinn de in a literal sense but more as a cultural label when a child is being bad.