Esau

American

[ee-saw] / ˈi sɔ /

noun

(in the Bible) a son of Isaac and Rebekah, twin brother of Jacob, to whom he sold his birthright.

Esau British

/ ˈiːsɔː /

noun

Bible son of Isaac and Rebecca and twin brother of Jacob, to whom he sold his birthright (Genesis 25)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Esau

In the Torah, Amalek refers to descendants of Esau who are known as the Israelites’ sworn enemy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2026

The study of society emerged like Jacob after Esau, clutching the heel of the “secular study of something called religion.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Esau never went to school but in 2023 was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Cape Town for her efforts to save N|uu.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025

"We became ashamed when we were young girls, and we stopped speaking the language," Esau told Reuters.

From Reuters ● May 11, 2023

Since the day we were born, twins like Jacob and Esau, the younger had ruled the older.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023