Word study
Fruit
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fruit, fruits. 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 “fruit” 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)
- פְּרִי perîfruittranslated this way 89 times of its 119 uses · Strong’s H6529Noun · Translated: fruit 82, produce 11, offspring 5, fruitful 3Full study and all 107 verses →
Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
Exodus 10:15 They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
- קַיִץ qayitssummer, summer-fruittranslated this way 9 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7019Noun · Translated: summer 10, summer fruit 8, summer fruits 1, summer harvest 1Full study and all 20 verses →
2 Samuel 16:1 When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.
Isaiah 16:9 So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
- חָלַל châlalbore, piercetranslated this way 4 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H2490Verb · Translated: began 24, profaned 24, profane 14, defile 10Full study and all 129 verses →
Deuteronomy 20:6 Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
Jeremiah 31:5 Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant and enjoy the fruit.
- מַאֲכָל maăkâlfoodtranslated this way 3 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H3978Noun · Translated: food 21, fruit 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Deuteronomy 20:20 But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.
Nehemiah 9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.
- אֵב êbtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4Noun · Translated: fruit 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Daniel 4:12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.
Daniel 4:14 He called out in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.
- תְּנוּבָה tenûbâhfruit, producetranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8570Noun · Translated: fruit 2, produce 1, lack produce 1, crops 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Judges 9:11 But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, to hold sway over the trees?’
Isaiah 27:6 In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
- יְגִיעַ yegîatoil, producttranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H3018Noun · Translated: labor 4, toil 2, products 2, worked 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Psalm 78:46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.
Psalm 109:11 May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καρπός karpósfruit, result, gaintranslated this way 47 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s G2590Noun · Translated: fruit 45, crop 6, crops 3, grain 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
Mark 11:14 Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again.” And His disciples heard this statement.
- καρποφορέω karpophoréōI bear fruittranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2592Verb · Translated: bearing fruit 3, produce a crop 2, bears fruit 1, produces a crop 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 13:23 But the seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and produces a crop — a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.”
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
- γέννημα génnēmaoffspring, child, fruittranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G1081Noun · Translated: brood 4, fruit 3, harvest 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 26:29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
Mark 14:25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”
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.