γλῶσσα
tongue
‘tongue’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Dative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine 14 times (28%)
- Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine 8 times (16%)
- Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine 7 times (14%)
- Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine 7 times (14%)
- Noun, Genitive, Plural, Feminine 5 times (10%)
- Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine 4 times (8%)
- Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine 4 times (8%)
- Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine 1 time (2%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 50 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G1100 appears — 47 distinct verses across 10 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Mark 3 verses
- Mark 7:33 γλώσσης n gen sg fem He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue.
- Mark 7:35 γλώσσης n gen sg fem Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.
- Mark 16:17 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
Luke 2 verses
- Luke 1:64 γλῶσσα n nom sg fem His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.
- Luke 16:24 γλῶσσάν n acc sg fem He cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.'
Acts 6 verses
- Acts 2:3 γλῶσσαι n nom pl fem Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.
- Acts 2:4 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
- Acts 2:11 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!"
- Acts 2:26 γλῶσσά n nom sg fem Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
- Acts 10:46 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,
- Acts 19:6 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.
Romans 2 verses
1 Corinthians 19 verses
- 1 Corinthians 12:10 γλωσσῶν γλωσσῶν n gen pl fem n gen pl fem and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
- 1 Corinthians 12:28 γλωσσῶν n gen pl fem God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
- 1 Corinthians 12:30 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret?
- 1 Corinthians 13:1 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
- 1 Corinthians 13:8 γλῶσσαι n nom pl fem Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
- 1 Corinthians 14:2 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem For he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands; but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries.
- 1 Corinthians 14:4 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly.
- 1 Corinthians 14:5 γλώσσαις γλώσσαις n dat pl fem n dat pl fem Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up.
- 1 Corinthians 14:6 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with other languages, what would I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching?
- 1 Corinthians 14:9 γλώσσης n gen sg fem So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
- 1 Corinthians 14:13 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem Therefore let him who speaks in another language pray that he may interpret.
- 1 Corinthians 14:14 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem For if I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
- 1 Corinthians 14:18 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem I thank my God, I speak with other languages more than you all.
- 1 Corinthians 14:19 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem However in the assembly I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in another language.
- 1 Corinthians 14:22 γλῶσσαι n nom pl fem Therefore other languages are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to the unbelieving; but prophesying is for a sign, not to the unbelieving, but to those who believe.
- 1 Corinthians 14:23 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem If therefore the whole assembly is assembled together and all speak with other languages, and unlearned or unbelieving people come in, won't they say that you are crazy?
- 1 Corinthians 14:26 γλῶσσαν n acc sg fem What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up.
- 1 Corinthians 14:27 γλώσσῃ n dat sg fem If any man speaks in another language, let it be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret.
- 1 Corinthians 14:39 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and don't forbid speaking with other languages.
Philippians 1 verse
James 4 verses
- James 1:26 γλῶσσαν n acc sg fem If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's religion is worthless.
- James 3:5 γλῶσσα n nom sg fem So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
- James 3:6 γλῶσσα γλῶσσα n nom sg fem n nom sg fem And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
- James 3:8 γλῶσσαν n acc sg fem But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
1 Peter 1 verse
1 John 1 verse
Revelation 8 verses
- Revelation 5:9 γλώσσης n gen sg fem They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book, And to open its seals: For you were killed, And bought us for God with your blood, Out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
- Revelation 7:9 γλωσσῶν n gen pl fem After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
- Revelation 10:11 γλώσσαις n dat pl fem They told me, "You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."
- Revelation 11:9 γλωσσῶν n gen pl fem From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
- Revelation 13:7 γλῶσσαν n acc sg fem It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.
- Revelation 14:6 γλῶσσαν n acc sg fem I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
- Revelation 16:10 γλώσσας n acc pl fem The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,
- Revelation 17:15 γλῶσσαι n nom pl fem He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, γλωσσα (glōssa) means “tongue.” First canonically at Mark 7:33, it enters the text early. It appears 47 verses across 10 books of the Greek New Testament, among its moderately common vocabulary. The word gravitates to 1 Corinthians (40%), then Revelation and Acts. Catalogued under 2 senses, its meaning is not single-sense. Dig into 47-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G1100 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 47
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 47 distinct verses.
- 10 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 10 of 27 New Testament books.
- #310
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 310 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 47 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Corinthians 19 verses 40%
- Revelation 8 verses 17%
- Acts 6 verses 13%
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 47 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 22 verses · 47%
- Johannine 9 verses · 19%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 8 verses · 17%
- Revelation 8 verses · 17%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 6 verses · 13%
- Gospels 5 verses · 11%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Tongues 25×, Tongue 18×, Unknown tongue 6×
- American Standard Version: Tongue 25×, Tongues 24×
- Berean Standard Bible: Tongue 24×, Tongues 23×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Tongue 22×, Tongues 17×, Languages 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G1100 across 50 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G1100 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G1100 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G1100 across 55 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 2 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- the tongue, a member of the body, an organ of speech
- the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations
Word origin
Origin: of uncertain affinity
Of uncertain affinity; the tongue ; by implication a language (specifically one naturally unacquired): - tongue.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 10 distinct written forms G1100 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| γλώσσαις glṓssais | Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Mark 16:17 | 14 |
| γλώσσῃ glṓssē | Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine | 1 Corinthians 14:2 | 8 |
| γλῶσσα glō̂ssa | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Luke 1:64 | 6 |
| γλῶσσαν glō̂ssan | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | 1 Corinthians 14:26 | 6 |
| γλωσσῶν glōssō̂n | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Feminine | 1 Corinthians 12:10 | 5 |
| γλώσσης glṓssēs | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine | Mark 7:33 | 4 |
| γλῶσσαι glō̂ssai | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | Acts 2:3 | 4 |
| γλώσσας glṓssas | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | Revelation 16:10 | 1 |
| γλῶσσά glō̂ssá | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Acts 2:26 | 1 |
| γλῶσσάν glō̂ssán | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Luke 16:24 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G1100, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word γλωσσα appears 111 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 109 verses in 18 books.
- 111
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 109
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 18 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 18 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 10:5 γλῶσσα
- Exodus 11:7 γλῶσσα
- Joshua 7:21 γλῶσσα
- Judges 7:5 γλῶσσα
- 2 Samuel 23:2 γλῶσσα
- Job 5:21 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 5:10 γλῶσσα
- Proverbs 3:16 γλῶσσα
- Song of Solomon 4:11 γλῶσσα
- Isaiah 3:8 γλῶσσα
- Jeremiah 5:15 γλῶσσα
- Lamentations 4:4 γλῶσσα
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G1100) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 109. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 10:5 γλῶσσα Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.
- Genesis 10:20 γλῶσσα These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations.
- Genesis 10:31 γλῶσσα These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations.
- Genesis 11:7 γλῶσσα Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
- Exodus 11:7 γλῶσσα But against any of the children of Israel a dog won't even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal; that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.
- Joshua 7:21 γλῶσσα when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
- Joshua 10:21 γλῶσσα that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
- Judges 7:5 γλῶσσα So he brought down the people to the water: and Yahweh said to Gideon, Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him shall you set by himself; likewise everyone who bows down on his knees to drink.
- 2 Samuel 23:2 γλῶσσα The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me, His word was on my tongue.
- Job 5:21 γλῶσσα You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, Neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
- Job 6:30 γλῶσσα Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?
- Job 20:12 γλῶσσα "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue,
- Job 20:16 γλῶσσα He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.
- Job 29:10 γλῶσσα The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
- Job 33:2 γλῶσσα See now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth.
- Psalms 5:10 γλῶσσα Hold them guilty, God. Let them fall by their own counsels; Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against you.
- Psalms 9:28 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 11:4 γλῶσσα Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- Psalms 11:5 γλῶσσα Yahweh examines the righteous, But the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates.
- Psalms 13:3 γλῶσσα Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
- Psalms 14:3 γλῶσσα They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is none who does good, no, not one.
- Psalms 15:9 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 21:16 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 30:21 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 33:14 γλῶσσα From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
- Psalms 34:28 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 36:30 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 38:2 γλῶσσα For your arrows have pierced me, Your hand presses hard on me.
- Psalms 38:4 γλῶσσα For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
- Psalms 44:2 γλῶσσα You drove out the nations with your hand, But you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, But you spread them abroad.
- Psalms 49:19 γλῶσσα He shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light.
- Psalms 50:16 γλῶσσα But to the wicked God says, "What right do you have to declare my statutes, That you have taken my covenant on your lips,
- Psalms 51:4 γλῶσσα Against you, and you only, have I sinned, And done that which is evil in your sight; That you may be proved right when you speak, And justified when you judge.
- Psalms 51:6 γλῶσσα Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- Psalms 54:10 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 56:5 γλῶσσα All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.
- Psalms 63:4 γλῶσσα So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
- Psalms 63:9 γλῶσσα But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
- Psalms 65:17 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 67:24 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 70:24 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 72:9 γλῶσσα Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.
- Psalms 77:36 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 80:6 γλῶσσα You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh among themselves.
- Psalms 108:2 γλῶσσα Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn.
- Psalms 118:172 γλῶσσα
- Psalms 119:2 γλῶσσα Blessed are those who keep his statutes, Who seek him with their whole heart.
- Psalms 119:3 γλῶσσα Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways.
- Psalms 125:2 γλῶσσα As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So Yahweh surrounds his people from this time forth and forevermore.
- Psalms 136:6 γλῶσσα To him who spread out the earth above the waters; For his loving kindness endures forever:
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G1100) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
