What does νάρδος (nárdos) mean in the Bible?
νάρδος (nárdos): Aromatic plant product; specifically the costly fragrant ointment used for anointing Jesus in worship.
Greek · G3487
νάρδος
"Nard"
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νάρδος G3487
Pronunciation nárdos
What does νάρδος (nárdos) mean in the Bible?
νάρδος (nárdos): Aromatic plant product; specifically the costly fragrant ointment used for anointing Jesus in worship.
Full entry for νάρδος (G3487) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3487?
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include nard (2).
Where does νάρδος (nárdos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 14:3. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1), 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 nard 2× Mark 14:3, John 12:3
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 14:3
Aligned rows 2
Books represented 2
Mark 1 John 1
Source forms
νάρδου 2x nardou Mark 14:3, John 12:3
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular 2x Mark 14:3, John 12:3
Evidence Summary
Messiah
Greek word. Aromatic plant product; specifically the costly fragrant ointment used for anointing Jesus in worship.
Strong's G3487
Lexical occurrences 2 verses Greek text appearances 2 times Word forms 1 form 2 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link John 12:1–8 Source Gloss
"nard"
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Aromatic plant product; specifically the costly fragrant ointment used for anointing Jesus in worship.
(Heb. נֵרְדְּ, both from Sanscrit narda, see Boisacq, see word), [in LXX: Sng.1:12 4:13-14 (נֵרְדְּ)* ;] nard;
aan Indian plant, the Nardostachys nardus jatamansi, used for the preparation of a fragrant ointment;
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 14:3 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
νάρδου nardou
spikenard, a perfume
Read verse John 12:3 Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
νάρδου nardou
spikenard, a perfume
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 1 case and number pattern. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 1 Aligned forms 2 Case pattern Genitive (2) Number pattern Singular (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Feminine Mark 14:3 · John 12:3 2×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
nard, costly perfume
Showing 1 selected witness from 2 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
νάρδος is of foreign origin - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Highlights sacrificial devotion to Christ. John 12:1–8
Canonical Themes
Messiah
Cross-Language Connections
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
H5373 Related Hebrew
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