Definition

emptiness or vanity; figuratively, something transitory and unsatisfactory; often used as an adverb

Etymology

or (rarely in the abs.) הֲבֵל; from H1891 (הָבַל);

Where the KJV renders it

• altogether
• vain
• vanity

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.