noun · feminine
elaias
Strong’sG1636
an olive tree
stem elai-13 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books5 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
The word refers to the olive tree 124, and it appears in the fixed phrase "the Mount of Olives," naming the hill associated with olive trees 1.
The word can also mean an olive, the fruit itself, rather than the tree 12.
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
ἐλαία
(Attic, ἐλάα), -ας, ἡ [in LXX for זַיִת;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1636 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidel-ah'-yah
an olive (the tree or the fruit)
Fromfeminine of a presumed derivative from an obsolete primary;
King Jamesolive (berry, tree).
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
Attic dialect ἐλάα, ἡ, olive-tree, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἱερὴ ἐRefs 5th c.BC+ to run beyond the olives, which stood at the end of the Athenian racecourse, i.e. to go too far, Refs 5th c.BC+, ubi see Scholia; of the Indian Olea cuspidata, Refs 4th c.BC+
2 variety of δάφνη Refs 1st c.BC+
II olive, Refs 5th c.BC+ —Acc. to Grammars ἐλάα was the proper form in this sense, ἐλαία in the first; but ἐλάα is simply the Attic dialect form,Refs 3rd c.BC+
III naevus on the skin, Melamp.Refs
IV ={δίφρου Κυρηναϊκοῦ μέρος}, Refs 5th c.AD+, the penultimate is long, Refs 5th c.BC+; but ἐλᾰῶν in Refs 1st 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 | elaias | elaiais1×ἐλαῖαι |
| object accusative | elaian | elaiain1×ἐλαίας |
| direct address vocative | elaiar | elaiair |
| of, belonging to genitive | elaiau1×ἐλαίας | elaiaiu9×Ἐλαιῶν |
| to, for dative | elaia1×ἐλαίᾳ | elaiai |
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
elaia 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
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
13 occurrences, every one of them listed
elaiau“olive tree”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Romans 11:17“olive tree”… sunkoinōnos tau rizau tau piotau tau elaiau genesa,… share in the nourishment of the olive root,
elaia“olive tree”to, fordative singular1×
Romans 11:24… tois kata fusian enkentrizili ta idia elaia.… branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
elaiais“olive trees”subjectnominative plural1×
Revelation 11:4Houtois alō tais duo elaiais kai tais duo luchnais tais enōpion …These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand …
elaiain“olives”objectaccusative plural1×
James 3:12mē dunotō, adelfoir mu, sukas elaiain poiara ē ampelas sukeim? oute halukem …… brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither …
elaiaiu“olives”of, belonging togenitive plural9×
Matthew 21:1… eis Bēthfagē eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu, tote Iēsus apostelata duo mathētoin… to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two disciples,
Matthew 24:3… de autou epi teu Oreu taiu Elaiaiu proserchala auto tois mathētois kata idian …… was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately …
Matthew 26:30… humnarantois exerchala eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu.… went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mark 11:1… kai Bēthanian pros tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu, apostelatō duo toiu mathētoiu autou… and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two of His …
Mark 13:3… kathorōntou autou eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu katenanti teu hiereu eperōtate auton kata …… was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John …
Mark 14:26… humnarantois exerchala eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu.… went out to the Mount of Olives.
Luke 19:37… pros ta katabasia teu Oreu taiu Elaiaiu archela hapantem tem plēthem toiu mathētoiu …… the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began …
Luke 22:39… tem ethem eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu; akolouthala de auto kai tois mathētois.… as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him.
John 8:1… de poreuita eis tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu.… Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.