Definition

to be a friend to (fond of (an individual or an object)), i.e. have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling; while G25 (ἀγαπάω) is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety: the two thus stand related very much as G2309 (θέλω) and G1014 (βούλομαι), or as G2372 (θυμός) and G3563 (νοῦς) respectively; the former being chiefly of the heart and the latter of the head); specially, to kiss (as a mark of tenderness)

Etymology

from G5384 (φίλος);

Where the KJV renders it

• kiss
• love

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.