This term designates the clothes moth or a similar fabric-eating insect. Isaiah uses it in powerful imagery about divine judgment, declaring that the moth will consume the wicked like a garment. The comparison works because moths silently and gradually destroy expensive textiles, just as God's judgment persistently works against evildoers. Related words appear in Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, and other Semitic languages, all referring to destructive insects that eat cloth or wood.