This noun denotes wrestling or close combat, typically athletic competition but also metaphorically for intense struggle. Paul uses it in Ephesians to describe the Christian life as a wrestling match—not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers. The word evokes the gymnasium and ancient athletic contests, where wrestlers grappled in close quarters. Applied to spiritual warfare, it suggests intimate, exhausting, hand-to-hand struggle rather than distant archery. The fight is personal and demanding.