Etymology

A significant number of words in the Bible have been translated as “joy.” The most common are:

• The Hebrew שִׂמְחָה (simchah)—meaning “joy,” “mirth,” or “gladness” along with the closely related verbal adjective שָׂמֵחַ (sameach).

• The Greek χαρά (chara)—meaning “joy” or “gladness” and the closely related verbal form, χαίρω (chairō), meaning “to rejoice or be glad.”

Other words commonly used for “joy” are:

• Hebrew חֶדְוָה (chedwah), meaning “joy” and “gladness”; its verbal form, חָדָה (chadah).

• Hebrew רִנָּה (rinnah), translated as “ringing cry of supplication or joy or praise”; the closely related Hebrew verb, רָנַן (ranan), translated as “giving a ring out or shout out for joy” (except in the hithpolel).

• Hebrew verb, גִּיל (gil), meaning “rejoicing” or “exceedingly glad” in the noun form and “to rejoice, be glad” when used as a noun (גִּילָה, gilah, in the less frequently found feminine variation).

• Hebrew שָׂשׂוֹן (sason), meaning “gladness”, “joy” or “exultation”; the closely related verbal form, שׂוּשׂ (sus), “to exult or display joy.”

• Greek ἀγαλλίασις (agalliasis), meaning “extreme joy” and the closely related verbal form, ἀγαλλιάω (agalliaō), meaning “to rejoice”.

• Greek εὐφραίνω (euphrainō), meaning “to gladden or be joyful”; the less common noun form εὐφροσύνη (euphrosynē), meaning “joy” or “gladness.”