אֶלֶף
ʼeleph · eh'-lef
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousand
Lexicon
Derivation: prop, the same as H504 (אֶלֶף);
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousand
Definition from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890). Wording is Strong's own, including his etymological notes, which are not separate meanings.
KJV renderings: thousand.
Letters
- אAlef1
Picture: ox head
- Concrete
- ox · bull · cattle
- Extended
- strength · leader · first · the one in front
- לLamed30
Picture: shepherd's staff or goad
- Concrete
- staff · goad · yoke · cattle prod
- Extended
- authority · to lead · to teach · to bind · toward
- פPe80
Picture: an open mouth
- Concrete
- mouth · lips · teeth
- Extended
- to speak · a word · an edge or opening · to scatter speech
Possible cultural reading (auto-composed)
strength, the leader › authority, the one who leads › to speak, the word
Strength, the leader of authority, the one who leads that works to speak, the word.
Interpretive, not lexical. The dictionary sense of אֶלֶף 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
506 occurrences · 506 OT · 0 NT · 103 distinct forms
KJV renderings of this word, by how often each one is used.
- thousand335 · 71%
- a thousand46 · 10%
- of thousands13 · 3%
- two thousand13 · 3%
- and a thousand9 · 2%
- over thousands6 · 1%
- and two thousand5 · 1%
- of a thousand4 · 1%
- of the thousands4 · 1%
- were two thousand4 · 1%
- unto thousands3 · 1%
- his thousands3 · 1%
- to a thousand3 · 1%
- the eleven hundred2 · 0%
- and he had a thousand2 · 0%
- thee two thousand2 · 0%
- over a thousand2 · 0%
- were a thousand2 · 0%
- from him a thousand2 · 0%
- and by thousands2 · 0%
- among the thousands2 · 0%
- among a thousand2 · 0%
- and of the thousand1 · 0%
- for thousands1 · 0%
- the mother of thousands1 · 0%
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.