Word study
Actually
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “actually”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “actually” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָשַׁל mâshalrule, have dominion, reigntranslated this way 1 time of its 79 uses · Strong’s H4910Verb · Translated: rule 27, ruler 16, ruled 6, rules 6Full study and all 74 verses →
Genesis 37:8 “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 1 time of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
Genesis 37:10 He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
- מָצָא mâtsâattain to, findtranslated this way 1 time of its 436 uses · Strong’s H4672Verb · Translated: found 197, find 87, finds 13, present 7Full study and all 411 verses →
Exodus 22:4 If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession— whether ox or donkey or sheep— he must pay back double.
- גָּנַב gânabstealtranslated this way 1 time of its 38 uses · Strong’s H1589Verb · Translated: steal 8, stolen 8, stole 2, deceived 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Exodus 22:12 But if the animal was actually stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.
- עֵת êthtimetranslated this way 1 time of its 270 uses · Strong’s H6256Noun · Translated: time 182, times 22, season 10, when 6Full study and all 237 verses →
Judges 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’”
- גַּם gamalso, moreover, yeatranslated this way 1 time of its 625 uses · Strong’s H1571Conjunction · Translated: even 107, and 100, also 64, too 43Full study and all 565 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὅλως hólōswholly, altogether, not at alltranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G3654Adverb · Translated: at all 2, actually 1, thoroughly 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
- λέγω légōI say, speaktranslated this way 1 time of its 993 uses · Strong’s G3004Verb · Translated: said 216, tell 164, say 105, saying 86Full study and all 936 verses →
- μᾶλλον mâllonmore, rathertranslated this way 1 time of its 64 uses · Strong’s G3123Adverb · Translated: more 30, rather 16, Instead 5, louder 2Full study and all 62 verses →
Philippians 1:12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.