Definition

properly, an "alabaster" box, i.e. (by extension) a perfume vase (of any material)

Etymology

neuter of (of uncertain derivation), the name of a stone;

Where the KJV renders it

• (alabaster) box

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.