Word study
Skull
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: skull, skulls. 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 “Skull” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- גֻּלְגֹּלֶת gulgôlethskull, head, polltranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H1538Noun · Translated: one by one 3, skull 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Judges 9:53 But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull.
2 Kings 9:35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
- פֵּאָה pêâhcorner, sidetranslated this way 1 time of its 57 uses · Strong’s H6285Noun · Translated: side 34, boundary 4, corners 3, edges 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Numbers 24:17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
- קׇדְקֹד qodqôdhead, crown of headtranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6936Noun · Translated: head 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Jeremiah 48:45 “Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.
- רֹאשׁ rôshheadtranslated this way 1 time of its 570 uses · Strong’s H7218Noun · Translated: head 200, heads 113, chief 31, top 29Full study and all 530 verses →
Judges 5:26 She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κρανίον kraníona skulltranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2898Noun · Translated: Skull 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 27:33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull,
Mark 15:22 They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull.
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.