Definition

the head of a family

Etymology

from G3624 (οἶκος) and G1203 (δεσπότης);

Where the KJV renders it

• goodman (of the house)
• householder
• master of the house

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.