Word study
Born
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “born”. 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 “born” 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)
- יָלַד yâladbear, bring forth, begettranslated this way 61 times of its 484 uses · Strong’s H3205Verb · Translated: father 111, born 57, bore 52, gave birth 44Full study and all 395 verses →
Genesis 4:18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech.
Leviticus 22:27 “When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD.
- יָלִיד yâlîdborntranslated this way 7 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H3211Noun · Translated: born 4, descendant 3, descendants 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Genesis 14:14 And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.
Leviticus 22:11 But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.
- יִלּוֹד yillôdborntranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3209Adjective · Translated: born 3, children born 1, bore 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
Joshua 5:5 Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 2 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
- מוֹלֶדֶת môledethnativity, lineage, native countrytranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H4138Noun · Translated: kindred 5, birth 5, native 4, born 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Leviticus 18:9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
Leviticus 18:11 You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γεννάω gennáōI beget, bring forth, give birth totranslated this way 39 times of its 96 uses · Strong’s G1080Verb · Translated: father 39, born 37, become your father 3Full study and all 65 verses →
Matthew 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Mark 14:21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
- τίκτω tíktōI bear, bring forth, producetranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G5088Verb · Translated: give birth 4, gave birth 4, born 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Matthew 2:2 asking, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Luke 2:6 While they were there, the time came for her Child to be born.
- γεννητός gennētósbegotten, borntranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1084Adjective · Translated: born 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 11:11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Luke 7:28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
- γίνομαι gínomaiI come into being, am borntranslated this way 2 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G1096Verb · Translated: become 58, came 42, became 34, happened 28Full study and all 515 verses →
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.