What does θῆλυς (thēlys) mean in the Bible?
θῆλυς (thēlys): Biological sex distinction; used theologically in Galatians 3:28 to affirm equality transcending gender categories.
Greek · G2338
θῆλυς
Female
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θῆλυς G2338
Pronunciation thēlys
What does θῆλυς (thēlys) mean in the Bible?
θῆλυς (thēlys): Biological sex distinction; used theologically in Galatians 3:28 to affirm equality transcending gender categories.
Full entry for θῆλυς (G2338) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2338?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include female (3), women (2).
Where does θῆλυς (thēlys) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 19:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (2), Galatians (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It female 3× Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, Galatians 3:28
women 2× Romans 1:26, Romans 1:27
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 19:4 θῆλυ to female Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular Mark 10:6 θῆλυ to female Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular Romans 1:26 θήλειαι to women Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural Romans 1:27 θηλείας to women Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular Galatians 3:28 θῆλυ to female Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 19:4
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 4
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Romans 2 Galatians 1
Source forms
θῆλυ 3x thēly Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, Galatians 3:28
θήλειαι 1x thēleiai Romans 1:26
θηλείας 1x thēleias Romans 1:27
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular 2x Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Romans 1:27
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Romans 1:26
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 1x Galatians 3:28
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Biological sex distinction; used theologically in Galatians 3:28 to affirm equality transcending gender categories.
Strong's G2338
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 4 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
female
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Biological sex distinction; used theologically in Galatians 3:28 to affirm equality transcending gender categories.
female: as subst., ἡ θ., a female, a woman: Rom.1:26-27; τὸ θ.., Mat.19:4, Mrk.10:6, Gal.3:28.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 19:4 Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
θῆλυ qhlu
female
Read verse Mark 10:6 Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
θῆλυ qhlu
female
Read verse Romans 1:26 Adjective Nominative Plural Feminine
θήλειαι qhleiai
female
Read verse Romans 1:27 Adjective Genitive Singular Feminine
θηλείας, qhleiav
female
Read verse Galatians 3:28 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
θῆλυ· qhlu
female
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 4 Aligned forms 5 Case pattern Accusative (2) Number pattern Singular (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Rom 1:26 1×
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Gal 3:28 1×
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Rom 1:27 1×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter Matt 19:4 · Mark 10:6 2×
Word Origins
θῆλυς is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain