H2332 H2332
Eve; the first woman, mother of all living, named by Adam after the fall
Eve (Hebrew 'Chavah') is the name given by Adam to the first woman in Genesis 3:20, explained as meaning 'life' or 'living' because 'she was the mother of all living.' The etymology connects to the Hebrew root for 'to live,' though some scholars have proposed alternative derivations (including 'serpent,' given the immediate context). She appears again in Genesis 4:1 as 'his wife Eve' when she bears Cain. Her naming follows the fall and the pronouncement of judgment, yet it also signals hope—despite the curse, life will continue through her. She is the matriarch of humanity.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The personal name of the first woman, given by Adam after the fall. The name 'Chavah' is explained as deriving from 'chai' (living), making her 'the mother of all living'—a title that affirms her role in the continuity of human existence despite sin and death. The naming occurs in the context of curse and promise: pain in childbirth, yet also the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent. Eve thus embodies both the tragedy of the fall and the hope of redemption, life persisting in the shadow of death. 2×
AR["حَوَّاءَ"]·ben["হবা"]·DE["Chawwa"]·EN["Chavah"]·FR["Ève"]·heb["חוה"]·HI["हव्वा"]·ID["Hawa"]·IT["Chavah"]·jav["Hawa"]·KO["하와"]·PT["Eva"]·RU["Ева", "Еву"]·ES["Havá"]·SW["Hawa"]·TR["Havva", "Havva'yı"]·urd["حوا"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. חַוָּה n.pr.f. (life, vid. Di Gn 3:20; > WeProl. 1886, 322; Skizzen iii. 217 after Nö who suggests serpent as poss. meaning, cf. Arabic حَيَّةٌ; but RSK 177 ‘mother of every ḥayy,’ v. ii. חַי sub חיה)—Gn 3:20 and the man called his wife חַוָּ֑ה, because she was אֵם כָּל־חָֽי׃; cf. ח׳ אִשְׁתּוֹ 4:1 (both J).—ii. חַוָּה village, v. infr. sub ii.חוה.