The verb means to assign or apportion something to someone, particularly what is due or proper to them. In classical Greek it carried economic overtones of distributing property or portions, though it could also mean rendering honor or respect. Peter uses it in 1 Peter 3:7 when instructing husbands to assign honor (τιμὴν ἀπονέμοντες) to their wives as co-heirs of grace. The multilingual evidence consistently points to allocation or giving—Spanish dando (giving), German zuteilen (to allocate)—confirming the core sense of proper distribution.