Definition

decay, i.e. ruin (spontaneous or inflicted, literally or figuratively)

Etymology

from G5351 (φθείρω);

Where the KJV renders it

• corruption
• destroy
• perish

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.