אִשָּׁה
ʼishshâh · ish-shaw'
a woman
Lexicon
Derivation: feminine of H376 (אִישׁ) or H582 (אֱנוֹשׁ); irregular plural, נָשִׁים;(used in the same wide sense as H582 (אֱנוֹשׁ))
a woman
Definition from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890). Wording is Strong's own, including his etymological notes, which are not separate meanings.
KJV renderings: (adulter) ess, each, every, female, [idiom] many, [phrase] none, one, [phrase] together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.
Letters
- אAlef1
Picture: ox head
- Concrete
- ox · bull · cattle
- Extended
- strength · leader · first · the one in front
- שShin300
Picture: two front teeth (or a composite bow)
- Concrete
- teeth · sharp · press · bow
- Extended
- to consume · to destroy · to press or grind · to change · again
- 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)
strength, the leader › to consume, to destroy › to reveal, behold
Strength, the leader that works to consume, to destroy that works to reveal, behold.
Interpretive, not lexical. The dictionary sense of אִשָּׁה 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
781 occurrences · 781 OT · 0 NT · 243 distinct forms
KJV renderings of this word, by how often each one is used.
- wife67 · 15%
- his wife40 · 9%
- woman39 · 9%
- wives39 · 9%
- to wife31 · 7%
- and the woman25 · 6%
- a wife23 · 5%
- women18 · 4%
- the wife18 · 4%
- and women16 · 4%
- and his wife15 · 3%
- unto the woman14 · 3%
- the woman14 · 3%
- of the women11 · 2%
- a woman9 · 2%
- of a woman9 · 2%
- and the women8 · 2%
- of his wife7 · 2%
- thy wife7 · 2%
- or woman7 · 2%
- and woman6 · 1%
- them wives6 · 1%
- one6 · 1%
- of women6 · 1%
- and their wives5 · 1%
Where it is used, by book.
- Genesis152
- Exodus38
- Leviticus35
- Numbers41
- Deuteronomy41
- Joshua10
- Judges69
- Ruth15
- 1 Samuel54
- 2 Samuel49
- 1 Kings38
- 2 Kings19
- 1 Chronicles20
- 2 Chronicles19
- Ezra12
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.