نَاسٌ

is applied to Men, and to jinn, or genii; (S, Msb, K;) but its predominant application is to the former: (Msb:) it is said by some to be applied to both in the former of the last two verses of the Qur'an, الَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ النَّاسِ مِنَ الجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ [who suggesteth what is vain in the breasts of people of the jinn and mankind]; unless by it be meant النَّاسِى [the forgetting]; or من الجنّة والناس is added in explanation of a preceding word, الوَسْوَاس, or of الذى, or it is in dependence upon يوسوس; (Bd;) [but what corroborates the first explanation is the fact that] men and jinn are both termed رِجَال in the Qur'an, 72:6; and the Arabs used to say, رَأَيْتُ نَاسًا مِنَ الجِنِّ [I saw people of the jinn]: (Msb:) it is a plural of إِنْسٌ, (K,) originally أُنَاسٌ, (S, K,) a plural which is rare [as to form]; (K;) or أُنَاسٌ is plural of إِنْسَانٌ; (M, article أنس;) and ناس has the article ال prefixed to it, (S, M,) but not as a substitute for the suppressed ء, because, were it so, it would not be found prefixed to the original, أُنَاسٌ, whereas it is found prefixed to this latter: (S:) this derivation, however, from أُنَاسٌ, contradicts its belonging to article نوس: (MF;) [but some hold that it does belong to this article; and the form of its diminutive, to be mentioned below, favours their opinion: Fei says,] it is a noun applied to denote a plural, like قَوْمٌ and رَهْطٌ; and its singular is إِنْسَانٌ, from a different root: it is derived from نَاسَ, aorist يَنُوسُ, signifying “ it hung down and was in a state of commotion: ” and [agreeably with this derivation it is said that] its diminutive is نُوَيْسٌ: (Msb:) some, again, said that النَّاسُ is originally النَّاسِى. (L, TA, voce إِنْسٌ.) See also إِنْسٌ, throughout.