Piru (spirit)

For other uses, see: Piru (disambiguation).

A piru is a minor evil spirit or demon in Finnish mythology. In folklore, a piru is often featured as a nasty spirit of the forest with which a wise-aleck either wins or loses a battle of wits, giving or receiving a forfeit in return. In many cases, poltergeist and haunting phenomenons are described as "pirus". The Devil is often referred to as proper noun Piru or Pääpiru, the main piru.

"Piru" is also a mild swearword in Finnish.