(in Arabian stories) a spirit with magic powers, especially one that lives in a bottle or a lamp （阿拉伯故事中会魔法的妖怪，尤指住在瓶子或灯里的）精灵，镇尼 Word Originmid 17th cent. (denoting a guardian or protective spirit): from French génie, from Latin genius ‘attendant spirit present from one's birth, innate ability or inclination’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’. Génie was adopted in the current sense by the 18th-cent. French translators of The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, because of its resemblance in form and sense to Arabic jinnī ‘jinnee’.
Idioms
let the genie out of the bottle
to do something that has a big effect and after which it is very difficult or impossible to go back to how things were before 精灵：做一件大事，之后很难或不可能回到以前的样子 When guns were invented, the genie was let out of the bottle. 当枪被发明时，精灵被放出瓶子。