μήτηρ G3384
Mother; a woman in her role as parent, also used figuratively of cities, covenants, and spiritual relationships.
The standard Greek word for 'mother,' used overwhelmingly of the literal biological or social parent relationship. Mary is identified as the mother of Jesus across the infancy narratives (Matt 1:18; 2:11, 13-14), and the term structures family discourse throughout the Gospels and Epistles. The phrase 'from mother's womb' (Acts 3:2; 14:8; Gal 1:15) functions as an idiom for 'from birth,' highlighting a secondary prepositional construction. All target languages translate uniformly—Spanish 'madre,' French 'mère,' German 'Mutter'—confirming the semantic stability of this core kinship term across cultures.
1. mother — The primary sense: mother as a biological or social parent, accounting for 77 of 84 occurrences. Covers the literal relationship of a woman to her child, whether in narrative (Matt 2:11, 'the child with Mary his mother'), legal discourse (Matt 15:4, 'honor your father and mother'), or theological declaration (Gal 4:26, 'the Jerusalem above is our mother'). Every target language renders this identically: English 'mother,' Spanish 'madre,' French 'mère,' German 'Mutter'—a rare case of perfect cross-linguistic convergence. 77×
AR["أُمًّا","أُمَّكَ","أُمَّهُ","أُمُّكَ","أُمُّهُ","أُمِّها","أُمِّهَا","أُمِّهِ","أُمِّي"]·ben["মা","মাকে","মাতাকে","মাতার","মায়ের"]·DE["Mutter"]·EN["mother"]·FR["mère"]·heb["אִמְּךָ","אִמִּי","אִמֶּךָ","אִמָּהּ","אִמּוֹ","אֵם"]·HI["मअतअ","मत","मत-क","मत-को","मत-से","माता-की","माता-के","माता-को","माता-से"]·ID["ibu"]·IT["madre"]·jav["ibu","ibu,","ibu;","ibunipun"]·KO["어머니","어머니-를","어머니가","어머니는","어머니를","어머니에게","어머니와","어머니의","어머니이치","어머니치"]·PT["mãe"]·RU["Мать","матери","матерью","мать"]·ES["a-madre","madre"]·SW["mama"]·TR["annem","annemdir","annen","annene","annesi","annesine","annesini","annesinin","anneye","anneyi"]·urd["ماں","ماں-سے","ماں-کو","ماں-کی","ماں-کے","ماں-کے-پاس"]
Matt 1:18, Matt 2:11, Matt 2:13, Matt 2:14, Matt 2:20, Matt 2:21, Matt 10:35, Matt 10:37, Matt 12:46, Matt 12:47, Matt 12:48, Matt 12:49 (+38 more)
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
2. of mother — A prepositional construction meaning 'from one's mother' or 'of a mother,' appearing 5 times in the idiom 'from mother's womb' to express the concept 'from birth' or 'congenitally' (Matt 19:12, eunuchs from birth; Acts 3:2, lame from birth; Gal 1:15, set apart from birth). The genitive form signals origin or source rather than relational identity. French and German still render simply 'mère' and 'Mutter,' but English 'of mother' and Spanish 'de madre' preserve the prepositional nuance. 5×
AR["أُمِّ","أُمِّهِ","أُمِّهِمْ","أُمّي"]·ben["মাতার","মায়ের"]·DE["Mutter"]·EN["of-mother"]·FR["mère"]·heb["אִמִּי","אִמּוֹ","אֵם"]·HI["जिसे","मत","मत-के","मां","माता"]·ID["ibu"]·IT["madre"]·jav["biyung","ibu"]·KO["배-로부터","어머니","어머니-의","어머니의"]·PT["da-mãe","de-mãe"]·RU["матери"]·ES["de-madre"]·SW["la-mama","mama","walizaliwa"]·TR["anasının","annemin","annenin","annesinin"]·urd["ماں","ماں-کے"]
3. mothers — The plural form 'mothers,' used in Mark 10:30 (Jesus promises a hundredfold mothers, brothers, and sisters in the believing community) and 1 Timothy 5:2 (treat older women as mothers). These passages extend biological kinship metaphorically to the faith community. Spanish distinguishes the plural 'madres,' while French and German retain the unmarked singular form in translation, a minor cross-linguistic divergence. 2×
AR["أُمَّهاتٍ","أُمَّهَاتٍ"]·ben["মাতাদের;","মাদের"]·DE["Mutter"]·EN["mothers"]·FR["mère"]·heb["אִמָּהוֹת"]·HI["मअतओन","माताओं-को"]·ID["ibu","ibu-ibu"]·IT["madre"]·jav["biyung-biyung","ibu;"]·KO["어머니들-을","어머니들;"]·PT["mães"]·RU["матерей"]·ES["a-madres","madres"]·SW["mama"]·TR["anneler","anneleri"]·urd["ماؤں","ماؤں۔"]
Related Senses
H0376 1. man, person, human male (2130×)H0001 1. father, immediate male parent (1031×)H0251 1. brother (blood sibling) (573×)H0120 1. man, human being (individual/generic) (527×)H0802 1. woman, female person (519×)G0444 1. human being, person (469×)G3962 1. father or divine Father (413×)G0080 1. brother, fellow believer (343×)H0802 2. wife, spouse (255×)H0517 1. mother, female parent (217×)G0435 1. man, male person (202×)G1135 1. woman, adult female (190×)H2233 1. offspring, descendants (172×)H0001 2. ancestor, forefather (146×)H5288 1. Youth, young man (122×)H0269 1. sister (female sibling) (113×)H1755 1. generation, contemporaries (96×)G5043 1. child, offspring (89×)G0444 2. people, humankind (86×)H3206 1. child, boy, youth (86×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
μήτηρ, Doric dialect μάτηρ, ἡ: though paroxytone in nominative, it follows πατήρ in the accent of the indirect cases, genitive μητερος contraction μητρός, dative μητέρι, μητρί, both forms being found in Refs 8th c.BC+, but the longer forms rarely in Trag. exc. Lyric poetry, as ματέρος Refs 5th c.BC+; μητέρος in iambics, Refs 5th c.BC+:—mother, Refs 8th c.BC+; of animals, dam,Refs 8th c.BC+; of a…