an unintended wrong: something done by accident, oversight, or a slip rather than on purpose
This word names a wrong done without meaning to do it. It grows out of a verb for straying or going off course, and it treats the misstep as a genuine fault even though no defiance lay behind it. Across the law it is the standard label for a sin or an act committed by accident, carelessness, or oversight rather than in open rebellion.
Its center of gravity is the sacrificial law. When an Israelite broke one of God's commands without intending to, the wrong still counted, but a specific offering could cover it (Leviticus 4; Numbers 15). The same idea protects the accidental killer: someone who took a life "unawares," with no hatred and no plan, could flee to a city of refuge instead of facing the avenger of blood (Numbers 35; Joshua 20). In Ecclesiastes the word steps outside worship and law altogether to mean an ordinary slip, the kind of mistake a person tries to excuse after speaking too soon.
What ties these uses together is intention, not knowledge. The opposite of an inadvertent wrong is not an informed one but a defiant one, the sin done "with a high hand," which the offerings pointedly do not cover (Numbers 15:30-31). The closely related שְׁגִיאָה names the hidden slips a person cannot even keep track of, while this word names the definite misstep the law is able to address. The broader חַטָּאת names the offense itself, where this word marks only that the offense was unintended.