מָה
mâh · maw
properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
Lexicon
Derivation: or מַה; or מָ; or מַ; also מֶה; a primitive particle;
properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
- properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?)
- but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which)
- often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
Definition from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890). Wording is Strong's own, including his etymological notes, which are not separate meanings.
KJV renderings: how (long, oft, (-soever)), (no-) thing, what (end, good, purpose, thing), whereby(-fore, -in, -to, -with), (for) why.
Letters
- מMem40
Picture: waves of water
- Concrete
- water · sea · blood · liquid
- Extended
- chaos · mighty and uncontrollable · the masses · from / out of
- הHe5
Picture: a person with both arms raised
- Concrete
- a man calling out · a window · breath
- Extended
- behold! · revelation · to reveal · the (definite article)
Possible cultural reading (auto-composed)
water, chaos, the mighty deep › to reveal, behold
Water, chaos, the mighty deep that works to reveal, behold.
Interpretive, not lexical. The dictionary sense of מָה 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
753 occurrences · 753 OT · 0 NT · 128 distinct forms
KJV renderings of this word, by how often each one is used.
- what4 · 15%
- wherefore3 · 11%
- how3 · 11%
- whereby1 · 4%
- thee from thence: why1 · 4%
- what good1 · 4%
- why1 · 4%
- wherewith1 · 4%
- unto him, why hast thou1 · 4%
- wherein1 · 4%
- of thee; and what1 · 4%
- unto him, how1 · 4%
- but howsoever1 · 4%
- how long1 · 4%
- yea, whereto1 · 4%
- nothing1 · 4%
- for1 · 4%
- to what1 · 4%
- for thee? what thing1 · 4%
- to what end1 · 4%
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.