The verb χλευαζω (chleuazo) means to jest, scoff or treat scornfully (Acts 2:13 and 17:32 only). It comes from noun χλευη (chleue), joke, jest (unused in the New Testament), which in turn stems from the same widely attested Proto-Indo-European root "glew-" from which English gets the word glee. But the act of scoffing clearly surpasses a mere innocent mockery or sport.

Our English word sarcasm comes from σαρκασμος (sarkasmos), meaning the same, which in turn derives from σαρξ (sarx), flesh. This suggests that the act of mocking is essentially predatorial, and its aim to take a bite out of someone's mind the way a lion would chomp down on someone's body.

The word σαρξ (sarx) most specifically refers to what we moderns call our consciousness. Our body is all we are directly conscious of, and our fleshy parts include all our senses. This word's Hebrew equivalent, namely בשר (basar), living flesh, even stems from the verb בשר (basar), to bring glad tidings or good news. That implies that all flesh is the expression of the soul, and all mockery is taking bites out of that.

When we mock we declare strategic weakness in the target, and feed our own predatorial soul by diminishing the soul we accost.