γέρων G1088
Old man, elderly person
An aged male, someone advanced in years. The term appears in Nicodemus's puzzled question about rebirth in John 3:4, where he asks whether someone can enter their mother's womb when they are old. The Greek term carries the weight of advanced age and the physical limitations that come with it, making Nicodemus's rhetorical question especially vivid.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Designates a male person of advanced age. The multilingual glosses (Spanish 'viejo', French 'vieillard', German 'alt') all point to the core sense of elderliness. In John 3:4, Nicodemus uses this word to emphasize the impossibility of physical rebirth for someone who has already lived many years, contrasting the natural aging process with Jesus's spiritual teaching about being born again. 1×
AR["شَيْخًا"]·ben["বৃদ্ধ"]·DE["alt"]·EN["old"]·FR["vieillard"]·heb["זָקֵן"]·HI["बूढ़ा"]·ID["tua"]·IT["geron"]·jav["sepuh"]·KO["늘은"]·PT["velho"]·RU["старый"]·ES["viejo"]·SW["mzee"]·TR["yaşlı"]·urd["بوڑھا"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
γέρων, οντος, ὁ, old man, Refs 8th c.BC+ __2 γέροντες, οἱ, Elders, Chiefs, κίκλησκεν δὲ γέροντας ἀριστῆας Παναχαιῶν Refs 8th c.BC+; in other states, as at Elis, Refs 4th c.BC+ __II as adjective, old, γέρον σάκος Refs 8th c.BC+; οἶνος Refs 4th c.BC+; πέπλος, λέμβος, Refs 3rd c.BC+: rarely in Prose, οἱ γέροντες τῶν ἰχθύων Refs 4th c.BC+; of stags, Refs; Ἀντίγονος ὁ γ. Antigonus the Elder, Refs 5th…