From εὐνή ('bed') + ἔχω ('to hold'), the word originally described a guardian of the bedchamber — a castrated man trusted with access to royal women. In Acts 8:27–39, the Ethiopian eunuch is a high-ranking treasury official under Queen Candace, and his encounter with Philip becomes a landmark story of the gospel crossing ethnic and social boundaries. In Matt 19:12, Jesus stretches the term across three categories: those born eunuchs, those made so by others, and those who 'have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven' — a figurative use referring to voluntary celibacy. Spanish eunuco and French eunuque preserve the Greek almost unchanged.