Learn English – The difference between “devil” and “demon”

meaningword-choiceword-usage

As far as I recognize, people use "demon" as a kind and can be used in plural form yet devil is not being used in plural.

He is a demon, stay away from him!
He is the devil, stay away from him!

So what's the difference? In which situations I use demon and devil?

Best Answer

In Christian theology, "demon" is a category of beings, the set of angels who rebelled against God. "Devil" is one specific individual, the leader of the demons. There is only one devil but there are many demons.

"Devil" is sometimes used to refer to any evil person, as in, "Joe is a devil". But I think that's a metaphor. Like people will say of a smart person, "Wow, Bob is a real Einstein".