οὐ
not
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Particle
- A short, often untranslatable function word adding nuance or connection.
Degree
- Negative
- Marks a negative form.
Every verse where G3756 appears in the Book of Philippians — 12 distinct verses. 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.
Philippians
- Philippians 1:17 οὐχ ptcl neg but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel.
- Philippians 1:22 οὐ ptcl neg But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don't make known what I will choose.
- Philippians 1:29 οὐ ptcl neg Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,
- Philippians 2:6 οὐχ ptcl neg who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God,
- Philippians 2:16 οὐκ ptcl neg holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn't run in vain nor labor in vain.
- Philippians 2:21 οὐ ptcl neg For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
- Philippians 2:27 οὐκ ptcl neg For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
- Philippians 3:1 οὐκ ptcl neg Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
- Philippians 3:3 οὐκ ptcl neg For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
- Philippians 3:12 Οὐχ ptcl neg Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:11 οὐχ ptcl neg Not that I speak in respect to lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.
- Philippians 4:17 οὐχ ptcl neg Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account.
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.
“not” is the headline sense of the Greek word ου (ou). First canonically at Matthew 1:25, it enters the text early. It appears 1,401 verses across 27 books of the Greek New Testament, among its most common vocabulary. Related forms include μη, μηδαμως and μηδε. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G3756 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 →
- 1,401
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 1,401 distinct verses.
- 27 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 27 of 27 New Testament books.
- #11
- by frequency
- Top 25 most frequent Greek words (rank 11 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 1,401 occurrences in the concordance →
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 1,401 distinct verses.
- Gospels 686 verses · 49%
- Pauline corpus 404 verses · 29%
- Johannine 348 verses · 25%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 256 verses · 18%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 92 verses · 7%
- Hebrews 62 verses · 4%
- Revelation 54 verses · 4%
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: Not 1,159×, No 138×, Cannot 27×
- American Standard Version: Not 1,108×, No 165×, Is not 19×
- Berean Standard Bible: Not 365×, No 123×, Does not 26×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Not 1,367×, No 92×, Certainly not 89×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3756 across 1,506 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 47 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 31 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3756 across 1,534 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 89 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G3756 across 705 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 46 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 128 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3756 across 1,635 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 21 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 1 sense 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.
- no, not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer
Word origin
Derived from μη (mḗ) (G3361) — not.
Also οὐκ ouk ook used before a vowel and οὐχ ouch ookh before an aspirate. A primary word; the absolutely negative (compare G3361 ) adverb; no or not : - + long nay neither never no (X man) none [can-] not + nothing + special un ([-worthy]) when + without + yet but. See also G3364 G3372 .
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 8 distinct written forms G3756 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| οὐκ ouk | Particle, Negative | Matthew 1:25 | 828 |
| οὐ ou | Particle, Negative | Matthew 5:14 | 660 |
| οὐχ ouch | Particle, Negative | Matthew 6:26 | 104 |
| οὔ oú | Particle, Negative | Matthew 5:37 | 14 |
| Οὐ Ou | Particle, Negative | Matthew 7:21 | 11 |
| Οὐκ Ouk | Particle, Negative | Matthew 10:24 | 4 |
| οὒ où | Particle, Negative | Matthew 5:37 | 3 |
| Οὐχ Ouch | Particle, Negative | Romans 9:6 | 2 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3756, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- μηδαμως mēdamōs G3365 by no means
- μηδε mēdé G3366 and not
- μηδεις mēdeís G3367 no one
- μηκετι mēkéti G3371 no longer
- μη ουκ mḕ ouk G3378 not ever
- μηποτε mḗpote G3379 lest
- μηπω mḗpō G3380 not yet
- μηπως mḗpōs G3381 lest
- μητε mḗte G3383 nor
- μητι mḗti G3385 whether
- μητις mḗtis G3387 let no one
Derived from this word
- μη mḗ G3361 not
- ου μη ou mḗ G3364 by no means
- ουδε oudé G3761 neither
- ουκετι oukéti G3765 no longer
- ουκουν oukoûn G3766 not therefore
- ουπω oúpō G3768 not yet
- ουτε oúte G3777 neither
- ουχι ouchí G3780 not at all
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 20 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ου appears 5,233 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 4,158 verses in 38 books.
- 5,233
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 4,158
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 38 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 38 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 2:5 οὐ
- Exodus 1:8 οὐ
- Leviticus 1:17 οὐ
- Numbers 1:47 οὐ
- Deuteronomy 1:9 οὐ
- Joshua 1:5 οὐ
- Judges 1:18 οὐ
- Ruth 2:7 οὐ
- 1 Samuel 1:2 οὐ
- 2 Samuel 1:10 οὐ
- 1 Kings 1:1 οὐ
- 2 Kings 1:4 οὐ
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3756) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 4,158. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 2:5 οὐ No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
- Genesis 2:17 οὐ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."
- Genesis 2:18 οὐ Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
- Genesis 2:20 οὐ The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.
- Genesis 2:25 οὐ They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- Genesis 3:1 οὐ Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Yes, has God said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"
- Genesis 3:3 οὐ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
- Genesis 3:4 οὐ The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,
- Genesis 4:5 οὐ but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.
- Genesis 4:7 οὐ If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it."
- Genesis 4:9 οὐ Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
- Genesis 4:12 οὐ From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth."
- Genesis 4:15 οὐ Yahweh said to him, "Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should strike him.
- Genesis 5:24 οὐ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
- Genesis 6:3 οὐ Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."
- Genesis 8:7 οὐ and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
- Genesis 8:9 οὐ but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ark; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark.
- Genesis 8:12 οὐ He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she didn't return to him any more.
- Genesis 8:21 οὐ Yahweh smelled the sweet savor. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.
- Genesis 8:22 οὐ While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
- Genesis 9:4 οὐ But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.
- Genesis 9:11 οὐ I will establish my covenant with you; neither will all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither will there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."
- Genesis 9:15 οὐ and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
- Genesis 9:23 οὐ Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.
- Genesis 11:6 οὐ Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.
- Genesis 11:30 οὐ Sarai was barren. She had no child.
- Genesis 12:18 οὐ Pharaoh called Abram, and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?
- Genesis 13:6 οὐ The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together.
- Genesis 13:9 οὐ Isn't the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
- Genesis 15:3 οὐ Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."
- Genesis 15:4 οὐ Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."
- Genesis 15:10 οὐ He took him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.
- Genesis 15:13 οὐ He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
- Genesis 16:1 οὐ Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- Genesis 16:10 οὐ The angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."
- Genesis 17:5 οὐ Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you.
- Genesis 17:12 οὐ He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner who is not of your seed.
- Genesis 17:14 οὐ The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."
- Genesis 17:15 οὐ God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
- Genesis 18:15 οὐ Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid." He said, "No, but you did laugh."
- Genesis 18:24 οὐ What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are therein?
- Genesis 18:25 οὐ Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"
- Genesis 18:28 οὐ What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
- Genesis 18:29 οὐ He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."
- Genesis 18:30 οὐ He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."
- Genesis 18:31 οὐ He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."
- Genesis 18:32 οὐ He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."
- Genesis 19:2 οὐ and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you will rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
- Genesis 19:8 οὐ See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."
- Genesis 19:19 οὐ See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3756) 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.
