This noun originally meant ready wit or clever jesting but came to denote coarse humor, vulgar joking, or buffoonery. Paul lists it in Ephesians 5:4 among improper speech: 'Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.' The word indicates humor that degrades, trivializes holy things, or delights in crudeness rather than building others up.