demonic

The story begins with Greek daimōn, a word for a divine or supernatural power. In early Greek use, a daimōn was not automatically evil. It could mean a lesser deity, a guiding spirit, or an unseen force shaping human fate. That older sense is far wider than the modern English one.

Greek formed the adjective daimonikós, meaning "pertaining to a spirit or daimōn." When Christian writers took over the word family, they narrowed it sharply. In Late Latin and church use, daemon and its adjectives moved toward hostile spirits opposed to God. The moral color turned dark.

French and Latin channels brought demonic and related forms into English by the 17th century. By then English no longer heard a neutral spirit in the word. It suggested devilish power, frenzy, cruelty, or possession. The older Greek breadth had been stripped away.

Modern use keeps that intensified charge. A demonic laugh, face, or energy is imagined as violently malevolent or terrifying. The word still carries the ghost of daimōn in its sound, but not in its moral range. A spirit word became a devil word.