Bible

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See also: bible

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English bible, from Medieval Latin biblia (“book”) (misinterpreted as a feminine from earlier Latin neuter plural biblia (“books”)), from Ancient Greek βιβλία (biblía, “books”), plural of βιβλίον (biblíon, “small book”), originally a diminutive of βίβλος (bíblos, “book”), from βύβλος (búblos, “papyrus”) (from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material).

Old English used biblioþēce (from βιβλιοθήκη) and ġewritu (whence English writs) for "the Scriptures".

Proper noun

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the Bible (plural Bibles)

An open Bible
  1. The main religious text in Christianity.
    In my religion class we learn about the Bible, as well as religious texts of other religions.
    • 2009, Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, page 16:
      Many non-Christians regard portions of the Bible as “inspiring,” but they do not believe the Bible was “inspired by God” […]
    • 2019 October 31, Garrick Beckett, “Beckett: How BioWare Approaches Religion & Sexuality”, in The Lutheran Column‎[1], archived from the original on 17 September 2020, Blog‎[2]:
      Second, the romance option brings up a unique issue: having sex with an alien. It’s somewhat difficult to say what the Christian should think on this issue because, well, the Bible doesn’t talk about aliens. Probably because they don’t exist (sorry to burst your bubble). Would this be considered bestiality? Or is it not bestiality since they are also beings capable of rational and ethical thought and self-reflection unlike usual animals?
  2. The Jewish holy book that was largely incorporated into the Christian Bible.
    She's Jewish, but she doesn't read the Bible because she's not religious.
  3. The analogous holy book of another religion or belief.
Synonyms
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Coordinate terms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Bengali: বাইবেল (baibel)
  • → Hindi: बाइबिल (bāibil)
  • → Urdu: بائبل (bāibil)
Translations
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Noun

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Bible (plural Bibles)

  1. A specific version, edition, translation, or copy of one of the above-mentioned texts.
    • 1842, A. D. Eddy, Black Jacob, page 38:
      He had just become able to read, with much effort, short sentences in his Bible, and was constantly engaged during his leisure hours in studying its pages.
    • 2014 November 1, Tony Bonnici, “US tourist held in North Korea felt ‘compelled to leave Bible’”, in The Times‎[4], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 August 2023‎[5]:
      An American imprisoned for nearly six months in North Korea has admitted that he deliberately left a Bible in a nightclub, in one of his first major interviews since his release. […] “I felt once I left the Bible somewhere that God would take it the rest of the way into the hands of some kind of Christian organisation, and I’d be able to waltz out of country fat, dumb and happy, no problem... But God had other plans.”
Alternative forms
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  • (specific version or copy): bible

See also

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Etymology 2

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From a Middle English diminutive of the given name Isabel.

Proper noun

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Bible

  1. A surname originating as a matronymic.

Czech

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Bible f (related adjective biblický)

  1. the Bible (The Christian holy book; the Old and New Testaments)

Declension

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Declension of Bible (soft feminine)
singular plural
nominative Bible Bible
genitive Bible Biblí
dative Bibli Biblím
accusative Bibli Bible
vocative Bible Bible
locative Bibli Biblích
instrumental Biblí Biblemi
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Further reading

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  • “Bible”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
  • “bible”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “Bible”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

French

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Etymology

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From Latin biblia, from Ancient Greek τά βιβλία (tá biblía, literally “the books”).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Bible f

  1. the Bible (The Christian holy book; the Old and New Testaments)

Middle English

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Proper noun

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Bible

  1. Alternative form of bible

Middle French

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Proper noun

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Bible f

  1. The Bible (The Christian holy book; the Old and New Testaments)
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