Word study
Recognize
2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: recognized, recognize, recognizing, recognizes. 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 “recognize” 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)
- נָכַר nâkarregard, recognizetranslated this way 14 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H5234Verb · Translated: recognized 7, recognize 4, acknowledge 4, show partiality 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Genesis 27:23 Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
Judges 18:3 And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 3 times of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
Deuteronomy 18:21 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐπιγινώσκω epiginṓskōI come to know, discern, recognizetranslated this way 11 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s G1921Verb · Translated: recognized 6, recognize 4, know 4, realized 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Matthew 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Mark 6:33 But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them.
- γινώσκω ginṓskōI come to know, learn, realizetranslated this way 5 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s G1097Verb · Translated: know 95, understand 19, known 15, knew 12Full study and all 205 verses →
Luke 19:44 They will level you to the ground — you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
- εἴδω eídōI know, remembertranslated this way 3 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s G1492Verb · Translated: know 218, knew 20, knows 16, knowing 14Full study and all 295 verses →
John 10:5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.”
John 20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not recognize that it was Jesus.
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.