Definition

a non-entity; generally used as a negative particle

Etymology

as if from a primitive root meaning to be nothing or not exist;

Where the KJV renders it

• else
• except
• fail
• (father-) less
• be gone
• in(-curable)
• neither
• never
• no (where)
• none
• nor
• (any
• thing)
• not
• nothing
• to nought
• past
• un(-searchable)
• well-nigh
• without. Compare H370 (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.