κωφός
kōphós · G2974 · Greek · 14 occurrences
Meanings
-
dumb, mute, unable to speak, incapable of talking
Pertaining to not being able to speak or talk
ExamplesMatthew 9:32 And as they were going out, behold, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him.
Matthew 9:33 And after the demon was cast out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
Matthew 12:22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to Jesus, and He healed him so that the man who was unable to speak talked and could see.
-
deaf
Pertaining to being unable to hear
ExamplesMatthew 11:5 those who are BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.
Mark 7:32 And they brought to Him one who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him.
Mark 7:37 And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even those who are deaf hear, and those who are unable to talk, speak.”
How it’s used In 2 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
7 occurrences in 3 groups
- λαλέωto speak 4
- ἀκούωto hear 3
- βλέπωto see 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- ἔχωto have 1
- φέρωto bring, to carry, to bear 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 2 words
- ἄλαλος álalos · G216 · dumb, mute, unable to speak
- Both terms share the sense of being mute or unable to speak. The target additionally denotes deafness, making it broader in application, but its overlap with ἄλαλος in the sense of 'mute' is a real, specific shared meaning where the two function as near synonyms for speech impairment.
- ἄφωνος áphōnos · G880 · dumb, mute, unable to speak
- Both describe inability to speak, though ἄφωνος emphasizes voicelessness or absence of meaningful sound (including figurative meaninglessness), while κωφός denotes blunted sensory or vocal faculties, specifically deafness or muteness as physical impairments.
In the other Testament 1 word
- חֵרֵשׁ chêrêsh · H2795 · to be deaf
- Hebrew חֵרֵשׁ (chêrêsh, H2795) denotes specifically 'deaf' as a physical hearing impairment, while Greek κωφός (kōphós, G2974) extends more broadly to cover both deafness and muteness ('blunted' in either hearing or speech capacity), though the core deafness sense is shared and the Hebrew term translates directly into that portion of the Greek semantic range.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Deaf24.68
- κωφός can describe deafness, the inability to hear. Matthew 11:5 lists among the signs of Jesus' ministry that “those who are BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and those who limp walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and those who are deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them,” the κωφοὶ naming these deaf who received hearing.
- Dumb, mute, unable to speak, incapable of talking33.106
- The same word can also describe muteness, the inability to speak. Matthew 9:32 recounts that “a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him,” the κωφόν naming this man's inability to speak before Jesus healed him.
Word family 27 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon κωφη, κωφόν (κόπτω to beat, pound), blunted, dull; properly, βέλος, Homer, Iliad 11, 390;…
b. blunted, dull, in hearing; deaf: Mt 11:5; Mk 7:32, Mk 7:37; Mk 9:25; Lk 7:22 (Homer h. Merc. 92; Aeschylus, Xenophon, Plato, and following; the Sept. for חֵרֵשׁ, Ex 4:11; Isa 43:8; Ps 37:14, etc.).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
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
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