Senses
1. serpent, snake — A serpent or snake, used both of literal reptiles and figuratively of Satan or demonic forces. In the NT, ὄφις refers to the Genesis serpent (2 Cor 11:3; Rev 12:9, 20:2), literal snakes handled by believers or encountered in the wild (Mark 16:18; Acts 28:3-4), and Jesus' metaphorical command to be 'wise as serpents' (Matt 10:16). Multilingual evidence confirms a unified semantic core: Spanish 'serpiente/serpientes', Hindi 'सांप/साँपों', Arabic 'حَيَّة/حَيَّات', Korean '뱀/뽀들', Swahili 'nyoka' (invariant plural). The singular (S73653) and plural (S73654) forms represent grammatical number variation of the same lexical sense, not distinct meanings. 14×
AR["الحَيَّةُ","الحَيَّةِ","بِحَيَّاتٍ","حَيَّاتٍ","حَيَّاتِ","حَيَّةً","حَيَّةَ","حَيّاتٍ","حَيّاتِ","يا-حَيَّاتُ"]·ben["সাপ","সাপকে","সাপদের","সাপের","সাপের,","সাপেরা"]·DE["Schlange"]·EN["a-serpent","anything","serpent","serpents"]·FR["serpent"]·heb["הַנָּחָשׁ","לִ-נְחָשִׁים","נְחָשִׁים","נָּחָשׁ","נָחָשׁ"]·HI["सर्प","साँप","साँप-को","साँपों","सांप","सांप-ने","सांपो","सांपों","सांपों-को","सांप।"]·ID["ular","ular,","ular-ular","ular-ular,","ular."]·IT["serpente"]·jav["ula","ula,"]·KO["뱀","뱀-의","뱀들","뱀들-에게","뱀들과","뱀을","뱀이","뽀","뽀-을","뽀들아","뽀들을","뽀이"]·PT["a-serpentes","serpente","serpentes"]·RU["змеи","змей","змею","змея","змеям,","змеями","змий","змий,","змия."]·ES["a-serpientes","serpiente","serpientes","una-serpiente"]·SW["nyoka","nyoka,","nyoka.","uzao"]·TR["yok edildiler","yılan","yılanlar","yılanlara","yılanları","yılanların","yılanı","yılanın"]·urd["سانپ","سانپ-نے","سانپو","سانپوں","سانپوں-کو","سانپوں-کے"]
Matt 7:10, Matt 10:16, Matt 23:33, Mark 16:18, Luke 10:19, Luke 11:11, John 3:14, 1 Cor 10:9, 2 Cor 11:3, Rev 9:19, Rev 12:9, Rev 12:14 (+2 more)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ὄφις, ὁ, genitive ὄφεως, poetry also ὄφεος Refs 5th c.BC+; Doric dialect and Ionic dialect ὄφιος Refs 8th c.BC+:—serpent, αἰόλος Refs 8th c.BC+; ὁ ψυχρὸς ὄ. Refs 3rd c.BC+; equivalent to δράκων in Refs 8th c.BC+ __II like{δράκων}, a serpent-like bracelet, Refs 4th c.BC+; ὄφεις is Attic dialect for ψέλλια accusative to Refs 2nd c.AD+ __II.2 τρικάρηνος ὄ. ὁ χάλκεος dedicated at Delphi (= Refs 5th…