Definition

to soil or (figuratively) desecrate

Etymology

a primitive root, (rather identified with H1350 (גָּאַל), through the idea of freeing, i.e. repudiating);

Where the KJV renders it

• defile
• pollute
• stain

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.