Word

ἄκανθα

ákantha · G173 · Greek · 14 occurrences

See all 14 in Search

Thing

Other thorny plants (thorns, brambles, briers)Thorns, thistles, brambles, and briers50 verses

Meanings

thorn plant, thistle, brier

Any kind of plant with sharp projections on its stem and/or branches; regarded as useless; symbol of hardship

Examples
Matthew 13:7 “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
Matthew 13:22 “And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Matthew 27:29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and put a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

How it’s used In 4 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

What it doesIt is the subject

3 occurrences in 3 groups

ἀναβαίνωto go up, to come up 2
συμφύωto grow together with 1
ἀποπνίγωto cause plants to die 1

What is done to itIt is the object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ἐκφέρωto carry out 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

9 occurrences in 4 groups

εἰςto 8
ἐκfrom 6
ἐπίon 2
ἀπόfrom 2

In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive

1 occurrences in 1 groups

μέσοςin the midst, among 1

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 1 word

τρίβολος tríbolos · G5146 · thorn plant, thistle, brier: Both terms refer to thorny or spiny plants. ἄκανθα (ákantha, G173) serves as the general word for thorn, while τρίβολος (tríbolos, G5146) denotes a specific type of thorny plant, the caltrop or thistle, characterized by its three-pronged spines.

In the other Testament 3 words

קוֹץ qôwts · H6975 · thorn, brier, thornbush: Hebrew קוֹץ (qôwts, H6975) serves as the standard Old Testament lexical equivalent for Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha, G173), both denoting thorns as physical plant structures, with alignment data confirming direct translation relationship across multiple contexts.
חוֹחַ chôwach · H2336 · thorn, thistle, hook: חוֹחַ (chôwach, H2336) is a direct Hebrew equivalent denoting thorny plants (bramble, thistle, thorn), corresponding to ἄκανθα (ákantha, G173) as its standard LXX rendering for the same botanical referent.
שַׁיִת shayith · H7898 · thorn, thistle, brier: Greek ἄκανθα and Hebrew שַׁיִת both denote thorny plants or thorns as objects, with ἄκανθα serving as the standard Septuagint rendering of this Hebrew term in contexts describing literal thorns or brambles.

Semantic domains 1 entry

Thorn plant, thistle, brier3.17: In Matthew 13:7, in the parable of the sower, “other seed fell among the thorns (tás akánthas), and the thorns came up and choked them out,” where the word names the literal thorny plants that crowd out the growing seed.

Word family 2 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

ἄκανθαákantha · G173ἀκάνθινος akánthinos · G174 · crown of thorns · 2×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (ης, ἡ (ἀκή a point (but see in ἀκμή)); a. a thorn bramble-bush, brier: Mt 7:16; Lk 6:44;…

(ης, ἡ (ἀκή a point (but see in ἀκμή));
a. a thorn bramble-bush, brier: Mt 7:16; Lk 6:44; Heb 6:8; εἰς τάς ἀκάνθας i. e. among the seeds of thorns, Mt 13:22; Mk 4:7 (L margin: ἐπί), 18 (Tdf. ἐπί); Lk 8:14 (Lk 8:7 ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀκανθῶν); ἐπί τάς ἀκάνθας, i. e. upon ground in which seeds of thorns were lying hidden, Mt 13:7.
b. a thorny plant: στέφανον ἐξ ἀκανθῶν, Mt 27:29; Jn 19:2 — for bare thorns might have caused delirium or even death; what species of plant is referred to, is not clear. Some boldly read ἀκανθῶν, from ἄκανθος, acanthus, bear's foot; but the meaning of ἄκανθα is somewhat comprehensive even in secular writings cf. the classical Greek Lexicons under the word (On the see BB. DD. under the word, and for references McClintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia.)

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 1 entry

Plants That Are Not Trees14 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0