What does κόπτω (kóptō) mean in the Bible?
κόπτω (kóptō): Beats breast in grief; physical gesture of mourning rather than mere lamentation or verbal expression
Greek · G2875
κόπτω
To "chop"; specially, to beat the breast in grief
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κόπτω G2875
Pronunciation kóptō
What does κόπτω (kóptō) mean in the Bible?
κόπτω (kóptō): Beats breast in grief; physical gesture of mourning rather than mere lamentation or verbal expression
Full entry for κόπτω (G2875) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2875?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include will mourn (2), cut (1), kept mourning (1), mourning for (1), they had cut (1).
Where does κόπτω (kóptō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (3), Luke (2), Revelation (2), Mark (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 will mourn 2× Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7
cut 1× Matthew 21:8
kept mourning 1× Luke 23:27
mourning for 1× Luke 8:52
they had cut 1× Mark 11:8
wail 1× Revelation 18:9
you did not mourn 1× Matthew 11:17
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:17 ἐκόψασθε to you did not mourn Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 2nd Person Plural Matthew 21:8 ἔκοπτον to cut Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Matthew 24:30 κόψονται to will mourn Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural Mark 11:8 κόψαντες to they had cut Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural Luke 8:52 ἐκόπτοντο to mourning for Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural Luke 23:27 ἐκόπτοντο to kept mourning Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural Revelation 1:7 κόψονται to will mourn Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural Revelation 18:9 κόψονται to wail Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:17
Aligned rows 8
Books represented 4
Matthew 3 Mark 1 Luke 2 Revelation 2
Source forms
κόψονται 3x kopsontai Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7, Revelation 18:9
ἐκόπτοντο 2x ekoptonto Luke 8:52, Luke 23:27
ἔκοπτον 1x ekopton Matthew 21:8
ἐκόψασθε 1x ekopsasthe Matthew 11:17
κόψαντες 1x kopsantes Mark 11:8
Parsing patterns
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural 3x Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7, Revelation 18:9
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural 2x Luke 8:52, Luke 23:27
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 2nd Person Plural 1x Matthew 11:17
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Mark 11:8
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Matthew 21:8
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Beats breast in grief; physical gesture of mourning rather than mere lamentation or verbal expression
Strong's G2875
Lexical occurrences 8 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 2 forms 8 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to "chop"; specially, to beat the breast in grief
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 11:17 Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Middle Indicative
ἐκόψασθε. ekoyasqe
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Matthew 21:8 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἔκοπτον ekopton
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Matthew 24:30 Verb Third Person Plural Future Middle Deponent Indicative
κόψονται koyontai
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Mark 11:8 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἔκοπτον ekopton
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Luke 8:52 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Middle Indicative
ἐκόπτοντο ekoptonto
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Luke 23:27 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Middle Indicative
ἐκόπτοντο ekoptonto
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Revelation 1:7 Verb Third Person Plural Future Middle Deponent Indicative
κόψονται koyontai
I cut off, mourn
Read verse Revelation 18:9 Verb Third Person Plural Future Middle Deponent Indicative
κόψονται koyontai
I cut off, mourn
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 2 Aligned forms 8 Tenses Future, Imperfect, Aorist Voices Middle, Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 7×
Future Middle Matt 24:30 · Rev 1:7 · Rev 18:9 3×
Imperfect Middle Luke 8:52 · Luke 23:27 2×
Aorist Middle Matt 11:17 1×
Imperfect Active Matt 21:8 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Aorist Active Mark 11:8 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 2 future 2 imperfect 1
Voice
middle 3 active 2
Mood
indicative 4 participle 1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
κόπτω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
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