חַי
chay · khah'-ee
alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
Lexicon
Derivation: from H2421 (חָיָה);
alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
- alive
- hence, raw (flesh)
- fresh (plant, water, year), strong
- also, (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
Definition from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890). Wording is Strong's own, including his etymological notes, which are not separate meanings.
KJV renderings: [phrase] age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life(-time), live(-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, [phrase] merry, multitude, [phrase] (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop.
Letters
- חHet8
Picture: courtyard wall or enclosure
- Concrete
- wall · fence · tent wall
- Extended
- to separate · protection · the inside vs. the outside · private
- יYod10
Picture: arm and closed hand
- Concrete
- hand · arm · work
- Extended
- a deed · to make · to work · to throw or worship
Possible cultural reading (auto-composed)
to separate and protect › the hand that works
To separate and protect of the hand that works.
Interpretive, not lexical. The dictionary sense of חַי above is the attested meaning; this pictographic reading is a tradition about how the sign-shapes may have been heard. Both can be held at once, they are answering different questions.
Usage
498 occurrences · 498 OT · 0 NT · 199 distinct forms
KJV renderings of this word, by how often each one is used.
- liveth61 · 23%
- of life32 · 12%
- of the living23 · 9%
- of his life16 · 6%
- as i live14 · 5%
- life13 · 5%
- of thy life10 · 4%
- alive10 · 4%
- beast9 · 3%
- the living9 · 3%
- my life8 · 3%
- of my life7 · 3%
- of the life7 · 3%
- beasts7 · 3%
- them alive5 · 2%
- and the living4 · 2%
- and the beasts4 · 2%
- of the living creature4 · 2%
- for the living4 · 2%
- quick3 · 1%
- i live3 · 1%
- while he yet lived3 · 1%
- to every beast3 · 1%
- that liveth3 · 1%
- and to every beast3 · 1%
Where it is used, by book.
Inflected forms found in the text.
Counts are computed from the tagged Hebrew and Greek text aligned to the King James Version, not from an estimate.