ποῦ G4226
An interrogative adverb meaning 'where?' — used to ask about location, destination, or (rarely) general indefinite place.
The Greek interrogative ποῦ asks 'where?' and appears 46 times in the New Testament, almost always as a direct or indirect question about location or destination. It opens some of Scripture's most dramatic questions: 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?' (Matt 2:2), 'Where do You want us to prepare the Passover?' (Matt 26:17), and Jesus' penetrating 'The foxes have holes... but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head' (Matt 8:20). Translations are remarkably uniform — Spanish 'dónde/adónde,' French 'où,' German 'wo' — reflecting the word's straightforward interrogative force.
2. sense 2 — An indefinite or rhetorical usage approaching 'anywhere, at any point.' Heb 2:16 (ποῦ with an indefinite force in context) stands alone in this category. Spanish 'en algún lugar' and the shift from a question mark to a statement suggest a quasi-adverbial meaning — 'surely not... anywhere' — rather than a true locative question. This marginal sense reflects Classical Greek's occasional use of ποῦ for indefinite or inferential force. 1×
AR["فِي-أَيِّ-مَكَانٍ"]·ben["কোথাও"]·DE["wo"]·EN["anywhere"]·FR["où"]·heb["בְּוַדַּאִי"]·HI["ही"]·ID["di-suatu-tempat"]·IT["dove?"]·jav["wonten-pundi"]·KO["어디에서"]·PT["-"]·RU["где-то"]·ES["en-algún-lugar"]·SW["popote"]·TR["nerede"]·urd["کہیں"]
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
1. sense 1 — Direct or indirect interrogative 'where?' asking about place, location, or destination. This covers virtually all NT uses (45 of 46). Spanish distinguishes static 'dónde' from directional 'adónde,' revealing a subtle locative-vs-allative nuance the Greek leaves unmarked. Key passages include the Magi's question in Matt 2:2, Jesus' question about Lazarus in John 11:34 ('Where have you laid him?'), and the repeated Johannine theme of origin — 'Where is your Father?' (John 8:19). In indirect questions it follows verbs of knowing or seeking: 'they did not know where it came from' (John 2:9). 45×
AR["أَينَ","أَيْنَ","إلى-أَينَ","حَيْثُ"]·ben["কোথায়"]·DE["wo"]·EN["Where","where"]·FR["où"]·heb["אֵיפֹה","אַיֵּה","לְאָן"]·HI["कहाँ","कहां","कहां?"]·ID["Di-mana","Di-manakah","Ke-manakah","di-mana","di-manakah","ke-mana","tempat"]·IT["dove?"]·jav["Ing-pundi","Wonten-ing-pundi","Wonten-pundi","Wonten-pundi,","papan","pundi","wonten-ing-pundi","wonten-pundi","wonten-pundi?"]·KO["어디로","어디서","어디에","어디에서"]·PT["Onde","Para-onde","onde","para-onde"]·RU["Где","Куда","где","куда"]·ES["Adónde","Dónde","a-dónde","adónde","donde","dónde"]·SW["Ataenda-wapi","Iko-wapi","Wapi","Yuko-wapi","mahali","ninaenda-wapi","wako-wapi","wapi"]·TR["Nerede","Nereye","nerede","nereye"]·urd["کہاں"]
Matt 2:2, Matt 2:4, Matt 8:20, Matt 26:17, Mark 14:12, Mark 14:14, Luke 8:25, Luke 9:58, Luke 12:17, Luke 17:17, Luke 17:37, Luke 22:9 (+33 more)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ποῦ, Ionic dialect κοῦ, interrogative adverb where? Refs 8th c.BC+; rarely with Verbs of motion in early authors, see που entry near the end:—with genitive loci, π. χθονό; where in the world? Refs 5th c.BC+; τὴν σοφίαν.. π. χοροῦ τάξομε; in what part of the chorus? Refs 5th c.BC+ __2 so in a sense not strictly local, π. ποτ᾽ εἶ φρενῶ; Refs 5th c.BC+; π. σοι τύχης ἕστηκε; at what point of fortune…