Definition

empty sounding, i.e. fruitless discussion

Etymology

from a presumed compound of G2756 (κενός) and G5456 (φωνή);

Where the KJV renders it

• vain

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.