Strong’s H6172 · Hebrew

עֶרְוָה
ʻervâh
er-vaw'

Definition

nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish)

Etymology

from H6168 (עָרָה);

Where the KJV renders it

  • nakedness
  • shame
  • unclean(-ness)

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.