particle
ō
Strong’sG5599
O, an exclamation
stem ō-17 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 booksnever changes form
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
ὦ is an exclamation used before a noun in direct address, meaning "O" 1234 — a simple way of calling out to or naming the person or thing being spoken to, whether in ordinary address or as a form of reproof 1. In this use it normally stands with the vocative case, though it can also stand with a noun in the nominative instead 13.
The same word also serves as a cry of strong feeling — surprise, astonishment, pain, or similar emotion — rendered "oh" 123. Used this way it can be followed by a noun in the nominative or genitive, or even stand before a question 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
ὦ
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5599 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saido
as a sign of the vocative case, O; as a note of exclamation, oh
Froma primary interjection;
King JamesO.
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
and ὤ, an exclamation, expressing surprise, joy, or pain, O! oh! with nominative, ὢ τάλας ἐγώ Refs 5th c.BC+: also with genitive, ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας Refs 2nd c.AD+; with interrogative, ὤ, τί λέγει; Refs; in the middle of a sentence, Refs 5th c.BC+
II with vocative, a mode of address, whether at the beginning of a sentence or in a parenthesis, ὦ Ἀχιλεῦ Refs 8th c.BC+; in invocations of the gods, ὦ Ζεῦ τε καὶ Γῆ καὶ πολισσοῦχοι θεοί Refs 5th c.BC+; ὦ πρὸς θεῶν ὕπεικε Refs 4th c.BC+: sometimes following the Verb, Refs 5th c.BC+; in different number from the vocative, προσέλθετ᾽, ὦ παῖ, πατρί Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 with nominative instead of vocative, ὦ δῐος αἰθήρ, ὦ φίλος, Refs 5th c.BC+; also οὗτος, ὦ σέ τοι (i.e. καλῶ) Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3 with both together, φίλος ὦ Μενέλαε Refs 8th c.BC+
II.4 with the latter of two nouns, Ἀγάμεμνον, ὦ Μενέλαε Refs.—In the first sense usually written ὤ, in the second ὦ: [τὸ ὢ] ἡνίκα θαυμαστικὸν λαμβάνεται βαρύνεται, καὶ χωρεῐ εἰς ἐπιρρηματικὴν σύνταξιν, οἷον ὢ Ἡρακλῆς Refs (ὦ,) expresses surprise (but Refs 2nd c.AD+ seems to imply ὦ in both senses); ὤ as an exclamation is found in forms like{ὤ μοι}, ὤ μοι ἐγώ, ὢ πρὸς τῶν θεῶν Refs 4th c.BC+ is improbable,compare Refs 9th c.AD+; ᾤμοι and ὤμοι are both recognized by Refs 7th c.BC+; written ὼ ώ in Papyrus of Refs 5th c.BC+. To those who (like Refs 2nd c.BC+ for the vocative of the Article ὁ, Refs 2nd c.AD+ replies at length.
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.
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.
17 occurrences, every one of them listed
Ō9×
Matthew 15:28tote apokrinirantos tos Iēsus legata auta; Ō gunaikar, megas su tas pistias; genitar …“O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is …
Matthew 17:17apokrinirantos de tos Iēsus legata; Ō genear apistar kai diastreforēntar, heōs pote …“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied …
Mark 9:19tos de apokrinirantos autoi legatō; Ō genear apistar, heōs pote pros vin …“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long …
Luke 9:41apokrinirantos de tos Iēsus legata; Ō genear apistar kai diastreforēntar, heōs pote …“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied …
Luke 24:25kai autos legata pros autoin; Ō anoētoir kai braduoir ta kardia teu …Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart …
Acts 13:10legata; Ō plēror pantou dolou kai pantau radiourgiau, …and said, “O child of the devil and enemy …
Romans 11:33“oh”Ō bathem ploutou kai sofiau kai gnōsiau …O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His …
Galatians 3:1Ō anoētoir Galatoir, tinos vin baskanata, hoi …O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you …
1 Timothy 6:20Ō Timotheor, tan parathēkan fulassasar, ektraporōntos tain …O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted …
ō8×
Acts 1:1… men prōton logon poiema peri panteiu, ō Theofilor, heiu archeta tos Iēsus poiarō …In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that …
Acts 18:14… ate adikēmem tinem ē radiourgēmem ponērem, ō Ioudaioir, kata logon an anechema vu;… involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for …
Acts 27:21“o”… en mese autoiu legata; Date men, ō androir, peitharcharantoin mi mē anagorō apo …… up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then …
Romans 2:1“o”Dio anapologētos asō, ō anthrōpor pantor tos krinarōntor; en he …You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself …
Romans 2:3logizosō de houtem, ō anthrōpor tos krinarōntor toin teim toiouteim …So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet …
Romans 9:20ō anthrōpor, menounge sis tinos asō tos …But who are you, O man, to talk back to God …
1 Timothy 6:11Sis de, ō anthrōpor theou, houteim fugasōr; diōkasōr de …But you, O man of God, flee from these …
James 2:20thelasō de gnōskara, ō anthrōpor kenor, hoti tas pistias chōris …O foolish man, do you want evidence …