What does μορφή (morphḗ) mean in the Bible?
μορφή (morphḗ): Essential form or nature itself, not merely outward appearance or accidental shape
Greek · G3444
μορφή
Shape; figuratively, nature
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μορφή G3444
Pronunciation morphḗ
What does μορφή (morphḗ) mean in the Bible?
μορφή (morphḗ): Essential form or nature itself, not merely outward appearance or accidental shape
Full entry for μορφή (G3444) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3444?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the] form (2), form (1).
Where does μορφή (morphḗ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 16:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Philippians (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 [the] form 2× Philippians 2:6, Philippians 2:7
form 1× Mark 16:12
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 16:12
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
Mark 1 Philippians 2
Source forms
μορφῇ 2x morphē Mark 16:12, Philippians 2:6
μορφὴν 1x morphēn Philippians 2:7
Parsing patterns
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular 2x Mark 16:12, Philippians 2:6
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x Philippians 2:7
Evidence Summary
Messiah
Greek word. Essential form or nature itself, not merely outward appearance or accidental shape
Strong's G3444
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 3 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Philippians 2:5–11 Source Gloss
shape; figuratively, nature
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 16:12 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
μορφῇ, morfh
form, shape, outward appearance
Read verse Philippians 2:6 Noun Dative Singular Feminine
μορφῇ morfh
form, shape, outward appearance
Read verse Philippians 2:7 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
μορφὴν morfhn
form, shape, outward appearance
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 2 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 2 Aligned forms 3 Case pattern Dative (2) Number pattern Singular (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Dative · Singular · Feminine Mark 16:12 · Phil 2:6 2×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine Phil 2:7 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
essential nature or form
Showing 1 selected witness from 3 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
μορφή is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Affirms Christ’s full deity. Philippians 2:5–11
Canonical Themes
Messiah
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