This neuter noun denotes stain, pollution, or defilement, particularly in contexts of moral or religious contamination. In 2 Peter 2:20, it describes the corruptions of the world from which people escape through knowledge of Christ. The multilingual glosses consistently emphasize defilement and contamination (Spanish contaminaciones). Classical usage includes pollution from murder or crime, the taint of guilt, and more generally any defiling influence. The term carries both the sense of contaminating agent and resulting state of impurity.