This verb means to strike or hit, but in most classical and New Testament usage it refers to striking with words—rebuking, reproving, or sharply correcting someone. In 1 Timothy 5:1, Paul instructs Timothy not to rebuke an older man harshly but to exhort him gently as a father. The physical sense of striking (as with a bow in Homer) gave way to the metaphorical sense of verbal chastisement. The multilingual evidence (Spanish reprendas, German zurechtweisen) captures both the sharpness and the corrective intent of such rebuke.