Definition

gratis, i.e. devoid of cost, reason or advantage

Etymology

from H2580 (חֵן);

Where the KJV renders it

• without a cause (cost
• wages)
• causeless
• to cost nothing
• free(-ly)
• innocent
• for nothing (nought
• in vain

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.