πνεῦμα G4151
Spirit, spirit; the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God; also a spirit being, the human spirit, wind, or life-breath.
Pneuma is one of the most theologically consequential words in the New Testament, and its semantic range — from physical wind to the Third Person of the Trinity — recapitulates the entire Old Testament arc of Hebrew ruach. Of its 383 occurrences, the overwhelming majority (370) refer to the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God, reflecting how thoroughly pneumatology pervades the New Testament witness. Yet the word never fully sheds its earthy origins: in John 3:8 Jesus exploits the double meaning of pneuma as both 'wind' and 'Spirit' in a single sentence, and in 2 Thess 2:8 the 'breath' of the Lord's mouth destroys the lawless one. The multilingual evidence is revealing — most languages use a single word for all senses (Spanish espiritu, French esprit, German Geist), forcing context alone to disambiguate, while a few like English distinguish 'Spirit' from 'wind' and 'breath.'
Senses
1. Holy Spirit / Spirit of God — The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God or of Christ — the massively dominant sense at 370 of 383 occurrences. This covers the Spirit's role in the conception of Jesus (Matt 1:18, 20), the empowerment of believers at Pentecost (Acts 2:4), the indwelling presence that produces fruit (Gal 5:22), and the agent of prophetic revelation (2 Pet 1:21). Spanish Espiritu, German Geist, French esprit, and Korean 성령 (seongnyeong, 'Holy Spirit') all capitalize or use special modifiers to mark this divine referent. The phrase pneuma hagion ('Holy Spirit') appears over 90 times, but many other occurrences are identifiable as divine Spirit only from context — a perpetual translation challenge across all target languages. 370×
AR["الرُّوحَ","الرُّوحُ","الرُّوحِ","الرّوحِ","بِالرُّوحِ","روحٌ","روحُ","رُوحَ","رُوحُ","رُوحِ","رُوحِي"]·ben["আত্মা","আত্মায়","আত্মার"]·DE["Geist"]·EN["Spirit","of-Spirit"]·FR["esprit"]·heb["הָרוּחַ","רוּחִי","רוּחַ"]·HI["अअतम-कि","अअतम-के","अअतम-को","अअतम-मेइन","आत्मा","आत्मा-के-द्वारा","आत्मा-से","की","पवित्र"]·ID["Roh"]·IT["spirito"]·jav["Roh","Roh;","Rohipun"]·KO["성령","성령-으로","성령-으로부터","성령-을","성령-이","성령의","영","영-으로","영-의","영에서","영을","영이시다"]·PT["Espírito","do-Espírito"]·RU["Дух","Духа","Духе","духа"]·ES["Espíritu","de-Espíritu"]·SW["Pneûma","Roho","anamwita"]·TR["Ruh","Ruh'a","Ruh'ta","Ruh'tan","Ruh'u","Ruh'un","Ruhu'dur","Ruhu'yla","Ruhumu","Ruh’un"]·urd["روح","روح-سے","روح-کو","روح-کے"]
Matt 1:18, Matt 1:20, Matt 3:11, Matt 3:16, Matt 4:1, Matt 10:20, Matt 12:18, Matt 12:28, Matt 12:31, Matt 12:32, Matt 22:43, Matt 28:19 (+38 more)
2. spirit being / supernatural entity — A spirit being or supernatural entity — angel, demon, or unclean spirit appearing as an incorporeal agent. Six occurrences cluster in Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:10, 'distinguishing of spirits'; 14:12, 'spirits' as spiritual manifestations) and Revelation's symbolic visions (Rev 1:4; 3:1; 4:5, 'the seven spirits before his throne'; 5:6). Korean 영들 (plural spirits) and Swahili roho (with plural context markers) both distinguish these from the singular Holy Spirit. The interpretive question of whether Revelation's 'seven spirits' denote angelic beings or a sevenfold fullness of the one Spirit shows this sense boundary at its most contested. 6×
AR["أرواحٍ","أرواحِ","أَرْواحٍ","أَرْواحِ","لِلأرواحِ"]·ben["আত্মা","আত্মাদের","আত্মাদের,","আত্মাদের;"]·DE["Geist"]·EN["Spirits","of-spirits"]·FR["esprit"]·heb["רוּחוֹת"]·HI["आत्माएँ","आत्माओं,","आत्माओं-का","आत्माओं-के","आत्माओं-को"]·ID["Roh","Roh,","roh-roh","roh-roh,"]·IT["spirito"]·jav["-ing-peparingan-rohani","Roh","roh;"]·KO["영들","영들-을","영들-의"]·PT["Espíritos","de-espíritos,","de-espíritos;"]·RU["Духов","Духов,","духов","духов;"]·ES["Espíritus","de-espíritus"]·SW["Roho","Roho,","kwa-roho","wa-roho"]·TR["ruhları","ruhların","ruhtan","siz"]·urd["روحوں-سے","روحوں-کو","روحوں-کی","روحیں","رُوحوں-کے"]
3. human spirit / inner disposition — The human spirit, the immaterial inner life, disposition, or seat of volition and moral consciousness. Five occurrences where pneuma refers to what is distinctly human rather than divine — Luke 1:80 ('the child grew strong in spirit'), Rom 8:13 (putting to death deeds of the body 'by the Spirit/spirit'), 1 Cor 14:2 ('in his spirit'), and the notoriously ambiguous 1 Pet 3:18; 4:6. Arabic ruh and Hindi atma can serve for both human and divine spirit, but Korean distinguishes 영 (human spirit) from 성령 (Holy Spirit), confirming a real lexical boundary. The difficulty of deciding whether Paul means the Holy Spirit or the human spirit in several passages (e.g., Rom 8:13) illustrates why the cluster is small — most ambiguous cases default to sense 1. 5×
AR["بِالرُّوحِ","بِالرّوحِ"]·ben["আত্মায়"]·DE["Geist"]·EN["by-Spirit","in-spirit"]·FR["esprit"]·heb["בְּ-רוּחַ","בָּ-רוּחַ","בָּרוּחַ"]·HI["आत्मा-में","आत्मा-से"]·ID["dalam-roh","oleh-Roh,","roh"]·IT["spirito"]·jav["Roh","ing-Roh","ing-roh.","ing-roh;"]·KO["영-에서","영으로"]·PT["em-espírito","no-espírito.","no-espírito;","pelo-espírito,"]·RU["-дела","духом","духом.","духом;"]·ES["en-espíritu","por-espíritu"]·SW["kiroho","kwa-roho","rohoni"]·TR["ruhla","ruhta","ruhça"]·urd["روح-سے","روح-میں","روح-میں؛","روح-میں۔","رُوح-میں"]
4. wind — Physical wind or moving air — a single clear occurrence at John 3:8, where Jesus says 'the wind (to pneuma) blows where it wishes.' The Greek deliberately exploits the double meaning: the same word denotes both the natural phenomenon and the divine Spirit in the same verse. Spanish viento, English 'wind,' and Korean 바람 all shift to meteorological vocabulary here, while French esprit and German Geist (or Wind) split in different directions. This lone occurrence preserves the ancient connection to the word's etymological root in pneo ('to blow'). 1×
AR["رِيحُ"]·ben["বাতাস"]·DE["Geist"]·EN["wind"]·FR["esprit"]·heb["רוּחַ"]·HI["हवा"]·ID["Angin"]·IT["spirito"]·jav["angin"]·KO["바람이"]·PT["vento"]·RU["ветер"]·ES["viento"]·SW["upepo"]·TR["rüzgâr"]·urd["ہوا"]
5. breath / life-breath — Breath or life-breath — a single occurrence at 2 Thess 2:8, where the Lord Jesus will destroy the lawless one 'with the breath (pneumati) of his mouth.' This evokes Isaiah 11:4 (Hebrew ruach) and foregrounds the physical, bodily metaphor of exhaled breath as an instrument of divine power. English 'breath,' Spanish soplo/aliento, and Korean 입김 ('mouth-breath') all select respiratory vocabulary distinct from 'Spirit' or 'wind,' though several translations (French esprit, German Geist) use their all-purpose spirit-word even here, collapsing the distinction. 1×
AR["روحِ"]·ben["আত্মা"]·DE["Geist"]·EN["breath"]·FR["esprit"]·heb["רוּחַ"]·HI["सअनस"]·ID["nafas"]·IT["spirito"]·jav["ambegan"]·KO["영으로"]·PT["espírito"]·RU["духом"]·ES["espíritu"]·SW["pumzi"]·TR["solusuyla"]·urd["سانس"]
Related Senses
H5921a 1. upon, on, over (spatial) (5443×)H0413 1. directional: to, toward (5366×)H1121a 1. son, male offspring, descendant (4914×)H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)H4428 1. king, human ruler (2518×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H6440 1. before, in front of (spatial) (1870×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H3027 1. physical hand (body part) (1596×)H1697 1. word, speech, utterance (1235×)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×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
πνεῦμα, ατος, τό, (πνέω) blast, wind, first in Refs 6th c.BC+: frequently in Trag., etc., ἀνέμων πνεύματα πάντων Refs 4th c.BC+; θαλάσσας.. πνεύματι λάβρῳ Refs 5th c.BC+ is commoner in Poets; Refs 8th c.BC+; κατὰ πρύμναν ἵσταται τὸ π.Refs 5th c.BC+; κατὰ πνεῦμα στῆναι τοῦ ἄρρενος to leeward of him, Refs 4th c.BC+; but κατὰ π. προσιόντες down wind, Refs; πνεύματος ἀνείλησις, ἐκπύρωσις, Refs 4th…