Word study
Someone
8 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “someone”. 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 “someone” 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)
- נֶפֶשׁ nepheshsoul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passiontranslated this way 6 times of its 666 uses · Strong’s H5315Noun · Translated: soul 178, life 119, lives 30, person 22Full study and all 622 verses →
Leviticus 5:1 “If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.
Numbers 35:11 designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.
- אִישׁ îshmantranslated this way 4 times of its 1,399 uses · Strong’s H376Noun · Translated: man 650, men 198, one 79, each 79Full study and all 1,278 verses →
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 3 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
- נָגַד nâgadbe conspicuoustranslated this way 3 times of its 360 uses · Strong’s H5046Verb · Translated: tell 83, told 67, reported 31, declare 18Full study and all 339 verses →
1 Samuel 14:33 Then someone reported to Saul: “Look, the troops are sinning against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.” “You have broken faith,” said Saul. “Roll a large stone over here at once.”
2 Samuel 4:10 when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!
- אָדָם âdâmman, mankindtranslated this way 2 times of its 509 uses · Strong’s H120Noun · Translated: man 311, men 75, mankind 21, human 18Full study and all 489 verses →
Leviticus 13:2 “When someone has a swelling or rash or bright spot on his skin that may be an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest.
Nehemiah 2:10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.
- עוֹר ôrskintranslated this way 2 times of its 81 uses · Strong’s H5785Noun · Translated: skin 48, leather 13, skins 7, hide 7Full study and all 72 verses →
- אֲשֶׁר ăsherparticle of relationtranslated this way 2 times of its 3,225 uses · Strong’s H834Pronoun · Translated: that 886, who 451, as 247, which 160Full study and all 2,844 verses →
- מִי mîwho?translated this way 2 times of its 423 uses · Strong’s H4310Interrogative · Translated: who 242, whom 31, and who 21, Whoever 14Full study and all 341 verses →
2 Samuel 23:15 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
1 Chronicles 11:17 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
Greek words (New Testament)
- τὶς tìsany one, some onetranslated this way 28 times of its 449 uses · Strong’s G5100Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun · Translated: some 96, anyone 96, a 65, anything 30Full study and all 420 verses →
Matthew 12:47 Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.”
Mark 9:38 John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone else driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”
- ἄλλος állosother, another, differenttranslated this way 8 times of its 145 uses · Strong’s G243Adjective · Translated: another 42, other 33, others 33, someone else 6Full study and all 130 verses →
Luke 7:19 So John called two of his disciples and sent them to ask the Lord, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”
John 5:7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”
- ἕτερος héterosanother, differenttranslated this way 3 times of its 96 uses · Strong’s G2087Adjective · Translated: another 32, other 26, others 17, different 5Full study and all 91 verses →
Matthew 11:3 to ask Him, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”
Luke 22:58 A short time later, someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
- ὅστις hóstiswhosoever, whichsoever, whatsoevertranslated this way 2 times of its 84 uses · Strong’s G3748Personal / Relative Pronoun · Translated: who 41, which 13, whoever 10, that 5Full study and all 80 verses →
Matthew 5:39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
Matthew 5:41 and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
- ὁ hothetranslated this way 2 times of its 9,898 uses · Strong’s G3588Article · Translated: the 6,410, of the 748, of 344, who 329Full study and all 5,117 verses →
Matthew 5:40 if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
- εἷς heîsonetranslated this way 2 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s G1520Adjective · Translated: one 223, a 16, single 13, first 9Full study and all 267 verses →
Mark 9:17 Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute.
- ἀλλότριος allótriosbelonging to another person, foreigntranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G245Adjective · Translated: others 4, foreign 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Romans 15:20 In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
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.