1. hard, harsh, severe — Describing something or someone as difficult, unyielding, harsh, or severe — applied to persons (a hard master, Mt 25:24), conditions (hard sayings, Jn 6:60), natural forces (harsh winds, Jas 3:4), and speech (harsh words, Jude 1:15). Multilingual evidence confirms a unified semantic field: Spanish 'duro/fuertes/duras' all denote harshness; Hindi 'कठिन/कठोर/प्रचण्ड' range from difficult to fierce; Arabic 'صَعْبٌ/قَاسٍ/عاصِفَة/القاسية' span hard, cruel, stormy, harsh; Korean '엄한/어려운/거센/완악한' cover strict, difficult, fierce, obstinate; Swahili 'vigumu/ngumu/mkali/magumu' all convey hardness or severity. The grammatical case differences (nominative, genitive masculine/neuter plural) do not indicate separate senses but merely inflectional variation of the same core meaning of hardness and harshness. 6×
amh["ጽኑ"]·AR["القاسية","صَعْبٌ","عاصِفَةٍ","قَاسٍ"]·ben["কঠিন","কঠোর","কঠোর-কথার","প্রচণ্ড"]·ces["tvrdých-slov"]·dan["hårde-ting,"]·DE["hart","harten-Worte","{σκληρόν","σκληρόν","σκληρὸς"]·ell["σκληρών,"]·EN["Hard","hard","harsh"]·FR["dur","dures-choses,"]·guj["કઠોર,"]·hat["di"]·hau["masu-tsanani"]·heb["קָשִׁים","קָשֶׁה","קשות"]·HI["कठिन","कठिनहै","कठोर","कठोर-बातों-के","प्रचण्ड"]·hun["kemény-szavakról"]·ID["Keras","Sulit","kata-kata-kasar","keras","{keras"]·IT["dure","duro","sklērōn"]·jav["Angel","atos","awrat","keras","{awrat"]·JA["厳しいこと"]·KO["가혹한-것-이다","거센","매우-힘든","어려운","엄한","완악한-말들"]·mar["कठोर,"]·mya["ကြမ်းတမ်းသော"]·nld["harde-woorden"]·nor["harde"]·pnb["سخت"]·pol["twardych"]·PT["duras-palavras","duro","fortes"]·ron["aspre,"]·RU["Жестокое","Трудно","жестоких","жёстких","суровый","трудно"]·ES["Dura","duras-palabras","duro","fuertes"]·SW["Ngumu","magumu","mgumu","mkali","ni-ngumu","vigumu"]·swe["hårda"]·tam["கடினமான"]·tel["కఠినమైన"]·tgl["matitigas"]·TH["รุนแรง"]·TR["Sert","sert","zor"]·ukr["жорстокі"]·urd["تیز","سخت","سخت-باتوں","مشکل","ہے"]·VI["lời-cứng-cỏi"]·yor["líle,"]·yue["剛硬-嘅"]·ZH["刚硬话"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
σκληρός, ά, όν, also Doric dialect, Refs 5th c.BC+, hyperdorian mode σκλᾱρός Refs 5th c.BC+:— hard, opposed to μαλακός in all senses: __I hard to the touch, ξύλον σ. ἢ μαλακόν Refs 6th c.BC+; ἐλαία Pi.[same place]; γῆ Refs 5th c.BC+ __I.2 of sound, harsh, σκληρὸν ἐβρόντησε Refs 8th c.BC+ __I.3 of taste and smell, harsh, bitter, σ. ὕδατα (springing from a rocky soil) Refs 5th c.BC+; of wine, dry,…