noun · feminine
akanthas
Strong’sG173
a thorn-bush
stem akanth-14 times in the New Testamentin 5 of 27 books3 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Thorn or thorn-bush — a prickly plant, or the sharp spines growing on it 1234. In the biblical text the word is always used in the plural, referring to thorns or thornbushes as a general type of plant, often as something contrasted with good plants or crops 1.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
ἄκανθα, -ης, ἡ
(< ἀκή, a point), [in LXX chiefly for קוֹץ, also for סִיר, שַׁיִת, etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G173 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidak'-an-thah
a thorn
Fromprobably from the same as G188;
King Jamesthorn.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
(ἀκή A) thorn, prickle, Refs 4th c.BC+
1 any thorny or prickly plant (in Refs 8th c.BC+ probably Eryngium campestre), Refs 5th c.BC+ no thistles, i.e. 'an easy job', Refs 5th c.BC+ —special kinds: ἄ. Ἀραβική smaller milk-thistle, Notobasis syriaca, Refs 1st c.AD+; ἄ. βασιλική fish-thistle, Cnicus Acarna, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἄ. Ἰνδική, = Balsamodendron Mukul, Refs; ἄ. λευκή Acacia albida, Refs; ={ἄ. βασιλική}, Refs 1st c.AD+; ἄ. λευκὴ τρίοζος, = Euphorbia antiquorum, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἄ. ἀκανώδης (probably) cornthistle, Carduus arvensis, Refs
2 of other plants, e.g. Spanish broom, Spartium junceum, Refs 4th c.BC+; ἄ. μέλαινα Acacia arabica, LXX+5th c.BC+; ἄ. διψάς, = Acacia tortilis, Refs 4th c.BC+
3 central flowering-bud of χαμαιλέων λευκός,Refs 1st c.AD+
4 ={ἄκανθος}, Ps.-Refs 1st c.AD+
5 in plural, prickles or spines of the hedgehog and of certain fish, Ion Trag.38, Refs 4th c.BC+
6 backbone or spine of fish, Refs 5th c.BC+; of serpents, Refs 5th c.BC+; of men, Refs 5th c.BC+; improperly used of mammalia, accusative to Refs 4th c.BC+; of the spinous processes of the vertebrae, Refs 2nd c.AD+; χονδρώδεις ἄ. false ribs, Refs 2nd c.AD+
7 metaphorically in plural, thorny questions, Refs 2nd c.AD+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | akanthas | akanthais3×ἄκανθαι |
| object accusative | akanthan | akanthain6×ἀκάνθας |
| direct address vocative | akanthar | akanthair |
| of, belonging to genitive | akanthau | akanthaiu5×ἀκανθῶν |
| to, for dative | akantha | akanthai |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
akantha is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
14 occurrences, every one of them listed
akanthais“thorns”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 13:7“thorns”… epi tain akanthain, kai anabainala tais akanthais kai pnigala auteim.… seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings.
Mark 4:7“thorns”… eis tain akanthain, kai anabainala tais akanthais kai sumpnigala autem, kai karpon ouk …… seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
Luke 8:7“thorns”… mese taiu akanthaiu, kai sumfuirantais tais akanthais apopnigala autem.… fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the seedlings.
akanthain“thorns”objectaccusative plural6×
Matthew 13:7alloseim de piptata epi tain akanthain, kai anabainala tais akanthais kai pnigala …Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the …
Matthew 13:22tos de eis tain akanthain sperirantos, houtos atō tos ton logon …The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the …
Mark 4:7kai allosem piptata eis tain akanthain, kai anabainala tais akanthais kai sumpnigala …Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the …
Mark 4:18kai allosois alō tois eis tain akanthain sperorōntois; houtois alō tois ton logon …… like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word,
Luke 8:14tem de eis tain akanthain piptarantem, houtois alō tois akouarantois, kai …The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as …
Hebrews 6:8ekferarōntas de akanthain kai triboloin adokimas kai katarau engus, …But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its …
akanthaiu“thorns”of, belonging togenitive plural5×
Matthew 7:16… autoiu epignōskevi autoin. mēti sullegalō apo akanthaiu stafulain ē apo triboloiu sukeim?… recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 27:29kai plekarantois stefanon ek akanthaiu epitithala epi tau kefalau autou kai …… they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head …
Luke 6:44“thorns”… idiou karpou gnōskotō; ouk gar ek akanthaiu sullegalō sukeim, oude ek batau stafulan …… tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.
Luke 8:7kai heterem piptata en mese taiu akanthaiu, kai sumfuirantais tais akanthais apopnigala autem.Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and …
John 19:2kai tois stratiōtois plekarantois stefanon ek akanthaiu epitithala autou ta kefala, kai himatiem …… soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, set it on His head, and …