Definition

sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine)

Etymology

or (shortened) אָדֹן; from an unused root (meaning to rule);

Where the KJV renders it

• lord
• master
• owner. Compare also names beginning with 'Adoni-'

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew 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.