Definition

might (could, would, or should) be

Etymology

optative (i.e. English subjunctive) present of G1510 (εἰμί) (including the other person);

Where the KJV renders it

• mean
• + perish
• should be
• was
• were

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.