StrongerBible

thrix

θρίξ

GreekG2359hair

Appears 15 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 3:4Mat 5:36Mat 10:30Mrk 1:6Luk 7:38Luk 7:44Luk 12:7Luk 21:18Jhn 11:2Jhn 12:3Act 27:341Pe 3:3Rev 1:14Rev 9:8 (2×)
Root family
Word studythreeksnoun

What thrix means

hair: the fine threadlike growth on the head or body of a person or animal, or a single strand of it

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the everyday Greek word for hair. It covers a whole head of hair and a single strand alike, and it names the hair of people and animals without any change in meaning: the same word describes the woman's hair that dried Jesus' feet, the camel's hair of John the Baptist's clothing, and the woman-like hair of the locusts in Revelation.

Several of its most memorable appearances are fixed sayings that use a hair as a picture of the smallest, most countable thing. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered" makes God's care exact and personal; "not a hair of your head will perish" promises complete safety. The word itself stays plain; the weight is carried by the saying, not by any special sense of the word.

A close relative is κόμη, which names hair as a styled, flowing head of hair worn as an adornment. By contrast this word points at hair as a physical substance or at an individual strand, which is why it, and not the other, is the word for animal hair and for counting single hairs.

Mat 3:4Mat 5:36Mat 10:30Mrk 1:6Luk 7:38Luk 7:44Luk 12:7Luk 21:18Jhn 11:2Jhn 12:3Act 27:341Pe 3:3

What scholars say about thrix

The standard lexica treat θρίξ as the general term for hair, of humans or animals, whether a single strand or the collective covering of the head (BDAG, s.v. θρίξ; LSJ, s.v. θρίξ). It is distinguished from κόμη, which denotes the hair of the head as an ornament or coiffure. The New Testament usage is uniform and concrete, ranging over human hair (Luke 7:38; John 12:3), animal hair (Mark 1:6, the camel's-hair garment; Rev 9:8), and the proverbial single hair as an image of the least and most numerous thing (Matt 10:30; Luke 21:18; Acts 27:34), the last echoing an established biblical idiom of total preservation.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. θρίξlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. θρίξlexicon

All attested forms of θρίξ

dative f p

θριξὶν

Luk 7:38, Luk 7:44, Jhn 11:2, Jhn 12:3

accusative f p

τρίχας

Mrk 1:6, Rev 9:8, Rev 9:8

nominative f p

τρίχες

Mat 10:30, Luk 12:7, Rev 1:14

genitive f p

τριχῶν

Mat 3:4, 1Pe 3:3

nominative f s

θρὶξ

Luk 21:18, Act 27:34

accusative f s

τρίχα

Mat 5:36