Definition

withered at the front, i.e. a point or prickle (figuratively, a bodily annoyance or disability)

Etymology

perhaps from the base of G4628 (σκέλος) and G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι);

Where the KJV renders it

• thorn

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.