Definition

strictly nothingness; also trouble. vanity, wickedness; specifically an idol

Etymology

from an unused root perhaps meaning properly, to pant (hence, to exert oneself, usually in vain; to come to naught);

Where the KJV renders it

• affliction
• evil
• false
• idol
• iniquity
• mischief
• mourners(-ing)
• naught
• sorrow
• unjust
• unrighteous
• vain
• vanity
• wicked(-ness). Compare H369 (אַיִן)

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.