G5207 — υἱός (huios)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G5207
Original: υἱός
Transliteration: huios
Pronunciation: hwee-os
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: Apparently a primary word (no derivable Greek root)
Occurrences: 348 unique verses (382 tokens) in NT
Books: 20 (all NT)
First Occurrence: Matt 1:1 — "the son of David, the son of Abraham"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Apparently a primary word; a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship: child, foal, son.

Semantic Domains¶

Louw-Nida: - 010 — Kinship Terms - 010002 — Kinship Relations Involving Successive Generations: genealogy language, generational descent - 009005 — Persons For Whom There Is Affectionate Concern: θυγάτηρ (daughter), τέκνον, παιδίον, τεκνίον - 012001 — Supernatural Beings: used for Jesus as divine Son; ἄγγελος, δαιμόνιον share this domain - 011001 — General group/class membership: λαός, ὄχλος, γενεά (see Domain Neighbors below)

UBS Semantic Domains: - [010] Kinship Terms - [009] People - [004] Animals - [036] Guide, Discipline, Follow - [011] Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes - [058] Nature, Class, Example - [012] Supernatural Beings and Powers

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
Son / son / the Son	269	77.3%
children / the children	41	11.8%
sons / the sons	22	6.3%
a son / a Son	12	3.4%
child / the child	3	0.9%
the foal	1	0.3%

Note: KJV capitalizes "Son" when referring to Jesus as Son of God; lowercase for biological or qualitative uses. The foal occurs at Matt 21:5 (quoting Zech 9:9, "a colt the foal of an ass").

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
1 John	18	17.1
2 John	2	15.4
Matthew	82	7.7
Hebrews	21	6.9
Luke	71	6.2
Galatians	9	6.0
John	52	5.9
Mark	33	4.9
Romans	12	2.8
Ephesians	4	2.6
Acts	22	2.2
1–2 Thessalonians	3	~2.2
Colossians	2	2.1
Revelation	8	2.0
2 Corinthians	4	1.6
Other	5	<1.0

Pattern: Densest in 1 John and 2 John (Son/Father theology) and the Synoptics (Son of Man + Son of David). Heaviest raw count in Matthew. Absent from Philippians, Titus, Philemon, and most General Epistles — those books prefer τέκνον or ἀδελφός language.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Biological / Genealogical Son¶

Direct male offspring or patrilineal descent.

Matt 1:1 — "the son of David, the son of Abraham" — genealogical chain at the outset of the NT
Matt 7:9 — "what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?"
Mark 6:3 — "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" — Jesus identified by paternal/maternal line
Jas 2:21 — "Abraham our father...when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar"

2. Son of God (Divine / Christological)¶

Jesus as the uniquely divine Son declared by the Father, confessed by disciples, recognized by demons. Dominant in John and 1 John.

Mark 1:1 — "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
Matt 3:17 — "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" — Father's declaration at baptism
Matt 16:16 — "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" — Peter's confession
Heb 1:2 — "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things"
1 Jhn 1:3 — "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ"

3. Son of Man (Messianic Self-Designation)¶

Jesus' primary self-title — drawn from Dan 7:13 and Ezek 2:1. Conveys authority, suffering, and eschatological parousia.

Matt 8:20 — "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" — humility
Mark 2:10 — "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins" — divine authority
Matt 16:27–28 — "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels"
Matt 24:30 — "shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven...coming in the clouds"
Rev 1:13 — "one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot"

4. Son of David (Royal / Messianic Title)¶

Connects Jesus to the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:14); used as a cry for mercy and a messianic acclamation.

Matt 1:1 — "Jesus Christ, the son of David" — opening proclamation
Matt 9:27 — "two blind men...saying, [Thou] Son of David, have mercy on us"
Matt 21:9 — "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"
Mark 12:35 — "How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?" — Jesus questions the title's adequacy

5. Qualitative / Membership Sonship ("sons / children of X")¶

Having the character of, or belonging to, a defined category. The genitive defines the nature of the group.

Matt 5:9 — "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God"
Matt 13:38 — "the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares are the children of the wicked one"
Mark 3:28 — "All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men" — humanity as a class
1 Thess 5:5 — "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day"
Gal 3:7 — "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham"

6. Adoptive / Covenantal Sonship (Believers as Sons)¶

Believers positioned as legal sons/heirs of God through Christ — distinct from biological begetting.

Matt 5:45 — "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven"
Gal 1:16 — "To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen"
Eph 4:13 — "the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man" — corporate goal of maturity
Heb 2:10 — "in bringing many sons unto glory" — the Father's purpose through Christ's suffering

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos)	G444	95x (27%)	"Son of man" (huios tou anthrōpou) — the messianic title
θεός (theos)	G2316	95x (27%)	"Son of God" — divine sonship declarations
λέγω (legō)	G3004	83x (24%)	Speech formulas introducing son-claims or identity questions
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)	G2424	68x (20%)	"Jesus Christ the Son of..." — titular combinations
πατήρ (patēr)	G3962	44x (13%)	Father/Son dyad — relational theology
Χριστός (Christos)	G5547	32x (9%)	"Son of Christ" or "Christ the Son" combinations
Δαβίδ (David)	G1138	21x (6%)	"Son of David" — royal Davidic title
οὐρανός (ouranos)	G3772	20x (6%)	"Son of Man coming in clouds of heaven"; "Father in heaven"

Word Family / Cognates¶

G5206 υἱοθεσία (huiothesia) — adoption as sons; the legal act of receiving believer status as heirs (Rom 8:15, 8:23; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5)

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G5207.

Antonyms¶

G3541 νόθος (nothos) — illegitimate son / bastard; Heb 12:8 contrasts true sons with νόθοι.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
τέκνον (teknon)	G5043	son, sons, children (58v for "children")	teknon = child by birth/generation, emphasizing the fact of being born; huios = son by legal status and dignity; Paul exploits this distinction in Gal 4:1–7
παῖς (pais)	G3816	son, child, boy (3v for "son")	pais primarily means "boy" or "servant/slave"; used of Jesus in Acts (4:27, 4:30) with servant/child ambiguity; huios is never ambiguous with "servant"

Domain Neighbors (LN 011001 — General)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV Translation
G1074	γενεά	34	generation, generations
G2992	λαός	132	people, the people
G3793	ὄχλος	134	people, multitude
G4128	πλῆθος	28	multitude, the multitude

These neighbors reflect huios in its group-membership sense ("sons of Israel," "sons of men"). For the kinship sense, the neighbors are θυγάτηρ (G2364, daughter) and πατήρ (G3962, father).

Hebrew Source¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrence	PMI	Notes
בֵּן (ben)	H1121	3,096x	2.55	Dominant; covers all semantic ranges of huios
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrael)	H3478	870x	1.43	Via "sons of Israel" constructions
מִשְׁפָּחָה (mishpachah)	H4940	121x	1.89	Via "sons of" tribal/family groupings

The LXX renders H1121 (ben) with huios ~3,096 times, making this the most direct Hebrew–Greek equivalence in the entire lexicon. Both words share the full semantic range: literal son, patronymic marker, membership in a class, and covenantal/divine sonship.