κοινονία: koinonia

Illustrations of English words
derived from the Greek in the New Testament.

By Gaylon West.


Strong's Dictionary: G2842 From G2844; partnership, that is, (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction: - (to) communicate (-ation), communion, (contri-), distribution, fellowship.

from etymonline.com (2017) - Anglicized: koinonia (n.) appeared in 1865, Greek word, literally "communion, fellowship," from koinos "common, ordinary" (see coeno-). PIE *kom "beside, near, by, with" (com-).

Koinonia belongs to a family of words used in the New Testament which describe such “joint participation.” Other in this family are koinoneo , the verb meaning - “to fellowship”; koinonos, a noun describing - “One who fellowships”; koinonikos, an adjective describing - “the willingness to fellowship,” and koinos, an adjective meaning - “common.”