Word study
Less
4 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “less”. 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 “less” 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)
- אַף aphalso, yeatranslated this way 7 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H637Conjunction · Translated: and 12, indeed 10, much more 9, much less 7Full study and all 102 verses →
1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- מָעַט mâaṭbe or become small, diminished, fewtranslated this way 4 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H4591Verb · Translated: less 3, decrease 3, diminish 2, decreased 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Exodus 16:17 So the Israelites did this. Some gathered more, and some less.
Numbers 11:32 All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp.
- בִּלְתִּי biltînot, excepttranslated this way 1 time of its 104 uses · Strong’s H1115Preposition-l · Translated: not 12, no 8, nothing 4, without 4Full study and all 101 verses →
Judges 7:14 His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”
- מַטָּה maṭṭâhdownwardstranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4295Adverb · Translated: bottom 5, below 3, lower 2, down 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Ezra 9:13 After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὡς hōsas, like as, how, while, so thattranslated this way 1 time of its 438 uses · Strong’s G5613Adverb · Translated: as 161, like 124, when 31, just as 15Full study and all 396 verses →
John 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,
- ἄτιμος átimoswithout honor, despisedtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G820Adjective · Translated: without honor 2, dishonored 1, less honorable 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Corinthians 12:23 and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty,
- ἥττον hḗttonlesser, inferior, weakertranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2276Adjective · Translated: more harm 1, less 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 12:15 And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?
- ἐλαχιστότερος elachistóterosthe smallest, least importanttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1647Adjective · Translated: less than the least 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ephesians 3:8 Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- ἀλυπότερος alypóterosfree from pain, grief, troubletranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G253Adjective · Translated: less anxious 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Philippians 2:28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious.
- 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 →
Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
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.