The Hebrew noun abdan (אַבְדָּן) is derived from abad (H8) and functions as an abstract noun meaning destruction, ruin, or the place of perdition. It is a synonym and intensification of Abaddon (H11) — expressing not merely the act of perishing but the condition or realm of total ruin. The word appears rarely in the Hebrew Bible but clusters in wisdom literature where the fate of the wicked is contrasted with the life of the righteous.
Abdan belongs to a cluster of Hebrew words for destruction (H8–H13) that together form the Old Testament's vocabulary for the fate of the wicked — the complete, irreversible ruin that comes from rejecting God. Wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job) uses these terms to anchor the "two ways" theology: the path of wisdom leads to life; the path of folly leads to abdan. This binary is echoed in Jesus' teaching about the narrow and wide gates (Matthew 7:13). The "wide road that leads to destruction" employs the exact theological register of abdan — not mere physical death but the ultimate loss of the self in opposition to God.