Definition

empty, i.e. (literally) profitless, or (specially), an idol

Etymology

from the base of G3155 (μάτην);

Where the KJV renders it

• vain
• vanity

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.