nehushtan means any false idol. It carries an Arena rating of 1528, earned across 73 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, nehushtan ranks #56 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #402 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #951 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,155 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
nehushtan is pronounced /nəˈhʊʃtən/.
Why “nehushtan” is a great word
NEHUSHTAN — [Noun] A false idol, specifically one that originated as a legitimate sacred object but has since been corrupted into an object of illegitimate worship. From the Hebrew נְחֻשְׁתָּן (Nehushtan), a proper name given to the bronze serpent made by Moses (Numbers 21:9), later destroyed as an idol by King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4); the name itself is derived from נְחֹשֶׁת (nəḥōšeṯ, "bronze, copper") with a diminutive or pejorative suffix, thus meaning "a (mere) thing of brass." Unlike a fetish—a primitive object believed to hold inherent power—or an icon—a venerated conduit to the divine—a nehushtan is a relic of authentic faith that has outlived its purpose and curdled into superstition. It is the crucifix worn as a luck charm, the revolutionary slogan fossilized into dogma, or the founder’s personal quirk hardened into unbreakable law. We are creatures who mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself, and a nehushtan is that finger, frozen and gilded.
Etymology
Hebrew נְחֻשְׁתָּן: the name given in the Bible to a brass serpent prepared by Moses to cure the Israelites of venomous snake bites in the desert. It was later worshipped for an idol, and subsequently destroyed by King Hezekiah.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.