In Jewish and Christian religious tradition, a demon or fallen angel, or the desert wilderness to which a scapegoat was sent carrying the sins of the people.
From Hebrew 'Azazel', possibly meaning 'God is mighty' or combining 'az' (strong) with 'el' (God), the term appears in the Torah's description of the Day of Atonement ritual.
The English word 'scapegoat' actually comes from a mistranslation of this Azazel concept—when translators rendered the biblical passage about sending a goat to Azazel, they translated it as a goat being sent to a 'scaped goat' (escaped goat), and the term stuck as a metaphor for bearing blame for others.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.