Definition

a rainbow ("iris")

Etymology

perhaps from G2046 (ἐρέω) (as a symbol of the female messenger of the pagan deities);

Where the KJV renders it

• rainbow

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.