You’ve probably heard the saying “the genie is out of the bottle” or “let the genie out of the bottle” a few times. While the meaning is pretty clear, you might be shocked to learn the origins of the phrase don’t have a lot to do with real genies (or djinn), but with something more…destructive.
Spend enough time reading about genies and you’ll see handfuls of different spellings: djinn, djinni, jinni, djinny, jinnie, jinnee, even the occasional jinx or ginnaya or gin. It can be pretty confusing. The good news is things are simpler than you think: there really isn’t much of a difference between genies, jinn, and jinn.