noun · masculine
gonevos
Strong’sG1118
a parent
stem gonev-20 times in the New Testamentin 9 of 27 books4 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
Parents — the word denotes a father and mother together, almost always used in the plural for "parents" 1234. It comes from a root meaning "to become" or "beget" 1, and in the singular can denote a single parent or begetter, i.e. a father 13.
In wider Greek usage outside the Bible, the term could also be extended more loosely to any progenitor or ancestor, including an ancestor several generations back, and was even used of the parent of an animal such as a serpent 3.
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
γονεύς, -έως, ὁ
(< γίγνομαι), [in LXX for אָב, אֵם;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1118 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidgon-yooce'
a parent
Fromfrom the base of G1096;
King Jamesparent.
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
begetter, father, mostly in plural, parents, Refs 8th c.BC+: in singular, of a serpent, Refs 5th c.BC+; of a man, Refs 5th c.BC+: generally, progenitor, ancestor, πέμπτος γ. ancestor in the fifth generation, Refs 5th c.BC+
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 | gonevos | gonevois9×γονεῖς |
| object accusative | gonevon | gonevoin5×γονεῖς |
| direct address vocative | gonevor | gonevoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | gonevou | gonevoiu1×γονέων |
| to, for dative | gonevo | gonevoi5×γονεῦσιν |
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
gonevo 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.
20 occurrences, every one of them listed
gonevois“parents”subjectnominative plural9×
Luke 2:41Kai poreuole tois gonevois autou kata etem eis Ierousalēm ta …Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast …
Luke 2:43… en Ierousalēm, kai ouk gnōskala tois gonevois autou.… remained behind in Jerusalem, but His parents were unaware He had stayed.
Luke 8:56kai ekstēala tois gonevois autau; tos de parangelata autoi mēdeno …Her parents were astounded, but Jesus ordered them …
John 9:2… Rabbi, tinos hamartata, houtos ē tois gonevois autou, hina tuflos genniteia?… who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
John 9:3… Iēsus; Oute houtos hamartata oute tois gonevois autou, alla hina faneriteia teim ergeim …… answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that …
John 9:20apokrinila oun tois gonevois autou kai legala; Oidanē hoti houtos …His parents answered, “We know he is our …
John 9:22houteim legala tois gonevois autou hoti fobole toin Ioudaioin, ēdē …His parents said this because they were afraid …
John 9:23dia houtem tois gonevois autou legala hoti Hēlikian echatō, auton …That was why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask …
2 Corinthians 12:14… tekneim toi gonevoi thēsaurizarō, alla tois gonevois tei teknei.… save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
gonevoin“parents”objectaccusative plural5×
Matthew 10:21… patros teknem, kai epanastēeli tekneim epi gonevoin kai thanatali autoin.… child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
Mark 13:12… patros teknem, kai epanastēeli tekneim epi gonevoin kai thanatali autoin;… child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
Luke 2:27… hierem; kai en te eisagara toin gonevoin tem paidiem Iēsun teu poiara autoin …… the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to …
Luke 18:29… oikian ē gunaikan ē adelfoin ē gonevoin ē tekneim heneken tau basileiau tou …… home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of …
John 9:18… kai anablepata, heōs hotinou fōnala toin gonevoin autou tou anableparantou… his sight until they summoned his parents
gonevoiu“parents”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Luke 21:16paradōivi de kai hupo gonevoiu kai adelfoiu kai sungenoiu kai filoiu, …You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends …
gonevoi“parents”to, fordative plural5×
Romans 1:30… theostugoin, hubristoin, huperēfanoin, alazōnoin, efeuretoin kakoseiu, gonevoi apeithoin,… forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
2 Corinthians 12:14… ouk gar ofeilatō teim tekneim toi gonevoi thēsaurizarō, alla tois gonevois tei teknei.… have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
Ephesians 6:1Teim tekneim, hupakouavōr toi gonevoi vu en kurio, houtem gar atō …Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is …
Colossians 3:20Teim tekneim, hupakouavōr toi gonevoi kata panteim, houtem gar euarestem atō …Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing …
2 Timothy 3:2… anthrōpois filautois, filargurois, alazōnois, huperēfanois, blasfēmois, gonevoi apeithois, acharistois, anosiois,… boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,