Original Word: καιρός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: kairos
Phonetic Spelling: (kahee-ros')
Short Definition: fitting season, opportunity, time
Definition: fitting season, season, opportunity, occasion, time.

2540 kairós – time as opportunity. 2540 /kairós ("opportune time") is derived from kara ("head") referring to things "coming to a head" to take full-advantage of. 2540 (kairós) is "the suitable time, the right moment (e.g. Soph., El. 1292), a favorable moment" (DNTT, 3, 833).

STRONGS NT 2540: καιρός

καιρός, καιροῦ, ὁ (derived by some from κάρα or κάρη, τό, the head, summit (others besides; cf. Vanicek, p. 118)); the Sept. for עֵת and מועֵד; in Greek writings (from Hesiod down):

1. due measure; nowhere so in the Biblical writings.

2. a measure of time; a larger or smaller portion of time; hence,

a. universally, a fixed and definite time: Romans 13:11; 2 Corinthians 6:2; ὕστεροι καιροί, 1 Timothy 4:1; ἄχρι καιροῦ, up to a certain time, for a season, Luke 4:13 (but in ἄχρι, 1 b. referred apparently to b. below; cf. Fritzsche, Romans, i., p. 309f); Acts 13:11; πρός καιρόν, for a certain time only, for a season, Luke 8:13; 1 Corinthians 7:5; πρός καιρόν ὥρας, for the season of an hour, i. e. for a short season, 1 Thessalonians 2:17; κατά καιρόν, at certain seasons (from time to time), John 5:4 (R G L); at the (divinely) appointed time, Romans 5:6 (others bring this under b.); before the time appointed, Matthew 8:29; 1 Corinthians 4:5; ἔσται καιρός, ὅτε etc. 2 Timothy 4:3; ὀλίγον καιρόν ἔχει, a short time (in which to exercise his power) has been granted him, Revelation 12:12; ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, Matthew 11:25; Matthew 12:1; Matthew 14:1; Ephesians 2:12; κατ' ἐκεῖνον τῷ καιρῷ, Acts 12:1; Acts 19:23; κατά τῷ καιρῷ τοῦτον, Romans 9:9; ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ Luke 13:1; ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ, Acts 7:20; ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ, Romans 3:26; Romans 11:5; 2 Corinthians 8:14 (13); ἐν παντί καιρῷ always, at every season (Aristotle, top. 3, 2, 4, p. 117{a}, 35), Luke 21:36; Ephesians 6:18; εἰς τινα καιρόν, 1 Peter 1:11. with the genitive of a thing, the time of etc. i. e. at which it will occur: τῆς ἐμῆς ἀναλύσεώς, 2 Timothy 4:6; τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, 1 Peter 5:6 Lachmann; Luke 19:44; περιασμου, Luke 8:13; τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τό κρίμα, for judgment to begin, 1 Peter 4:17; καιροί τῶν λόγων, of the time when they shall be proved by the event, Luke 1:20; — or when a thing usually comes to pass: τοῦ θερισμοῦ, Matthew 13:30; τῶν καρπῶν, when the fruits ripen, Matthew 21:34, 41; σύκων, Mark 11:13. with the genitive of a person: καιποι ἐθνῶν, the time granted to the Gentiles, until God shall take vengeance on them, Luke 21:24; ὁ ἑαυτοῦ (T Tr WH αὐτοῦ) καιρῷ, the time when antichrist shall show himself openly, 2 Thessalonians 2:6; ὁ καιρός μου, the time appointed for my death, Matthew 26:18; τῶν νεκρῶν κριθῆναι, the time appointed for the dead to be recalled to life and judged, Revelation 11:18 (Buttmann, 260 (224)); ὁ ἐμός, ὁ ὑμέτερος, the time for appearing in public, appointed (by God) for me, for you, John 7:6, 8; καιρῷ ἰδίῳ, the time suited to the thing under consideration, at its proper time, Galatians 6:9; plural, 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Timothy 6:15; Titus 1:3. ὁ καιρός alone, the time when things are brought to a crisis, the decisive epoch waited for: so of the time when the Messiah will visibly return from heaven, Mark 13:33; ὁ καιρός ἤγγικεν, Luke 21:8; ἐγγύς ἐστιν, Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:10.

b. opportune or seasonable time: with verbs suggestive of the idea of advantage, καιρόν μεταλαμβάνειν, Acts 24:25; ἔχειν, Galatians 6:10 (Plutarch, Luc. 16); ἐξαγοράζεσθαι, Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5, see ἐξαγοράζω, 2; followed by an infinitive, opportunity to do something, Hebrews 11:15; παρά καιρόν ἡλικίας, past the opportunity of life (A. V. past age), Hebrews 11:11 (simply παρά καιρόν, Pindar Ol. 8, 32; several times in Plato, cf. Ast, Platonic Lexicon, ii., p. 126).

c. the right time: ἐν καιρῷ (often in classical Greek), in due season, Matthew 24:45; Luke 12:42; Luke 20:10 R G L ((stereotype edition only)); 1 Peter 5:6; also καιρῷ, Luke 20:10 L T Tr WH; τό καιρῷ, Mark 12:2.

d. a (limited) period of time: (1 Corinthians 7:29); plural the periods prescribed by God to the nations, and bounded by their rise and fall, Acts 17:26; καιροί καρποφοροι, the seasons of the year in which the fruits grow and ripen, Acts 14:17 (cf. Genesis 1:14, the Sept.); καιρόν καί καιρούς καί ἥμισυ καιροῦ, a year and two years and six months (A. V. a time, and times, and half a time; cf. Winer's Grammar, § 27, 4), Revelation 12:14 (cf. 6; from Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7); stated seasons of the year solemnly kept by the Jews, and comprising several days, as the passover, pentecost, feast of tabernacles, Galatians 4:10 (2 Chronicles 8:13; cf. Baruch 1:14). in the divine arrangement of time adjusted to the economy of salvation: καιρός (πεπλήρωται), the preappointed period which according to the purpose of God must elapse before the divine kingdom could be founded by Christ, Mark 1:15; plural, the several parts of this period, Ephesians 1:10; ὁ καιρός ὁ ἐνεστως, the present period, equivalent to ὁ αἰών οὗτος (see αἰών, 3), Hebrews 9:9, opposed to καιρός διορθώσεως, the time when the whole order of things will be reformed (equivalent to αἰών μέλλων), Hebrews 9:10; ὁ καιρός οὗτος, equivalent to ὁ αἰών οὗτος (see αἰών, 3), Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; ὁ νῦν καιρός, Romans 8:18; ἐν καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ, the last period of the present age, the time just before the return of Christ from heaven (see ἔσχατος, 1 under the end, etc.), 1 Peter 1:5; καιροί ἀναψύξεως ἀπό προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου, denotes the time from the return of Christ on, the times of the consummated divine kingdom, Acts 3:20 (19).

e. as often in Greek writings, and like the Latintempus, καιρός; is equivalent to what time brings, the state of the times, the things and events of time: Luke 12:56; δουλεύειν τῷ καιρῷ, Latintempori servire (see δουλεύω, 2 a.), Romans 12:11 Rec.st; τά σημεῖα τῶν καιρῶν, equivalent to ἅ οἱ καιροί σημαινουσι, Matthew 16:3 (here T brackets WH reject the passage); καιροί χαλεποί, 2 Timothy 3:1; χρονοι ἤ καιροί (times or seasons, German Zeitumstände), Acts 1:7; οἱ χρονοι καί οἱ καιροί 1 Thessalonians 5:1; and in the opposite order, Daniel 2:21 the Sept.; Wis. 8:8. [SYNONYMS: καιρός, χρόνος: χρόνος time, in general; καιρός a definitely limited portion of time, with the added notion of suitableness. Yet while, on the one hand, its meaning may be so sharply marked as to permit such a combination as χρόνου καιρός 'the nick of time,' on the other, its distinctive sense may so far recede as to allow it to be used as nearly equivalent to χρόνος; cf. Thomas Magister, Ritschl edition, p. 206, 15ff (after Ammonius under the word); p. 215, 10ff καιρός οὐ μόνον ἐπί χρόνου ἁπλῶς τίθεται, ἀλλά καί ἐπί τοῦ ἁρμοδιου καί πρεποντος, κτλ.; Schmidt, chapter 44; Trench, § lvii.; Tittmann i. 41ff; Cope on Aristotle, rhet. l, 7, 32. "In modern Greek καιρός means weather, χρόνος year. In both words the kernel of meaning has remained unaltered; this in the case of καιρός is changeableness, of χρόνος duration." Curtius, Etym., p. 110f]

appointed time

Of uncertain affinity; an occasion, i.e. Set or proper time -- X always, opportunity, (convenient, due) season, (due, short, while) time, a while. Compare chronos.

see GREEK chronos

καιροι καιροί καιροὶ καιροις καιροίς καιροῖς καιρον καιρόν καιρὸν καιρος καιρός καιρὸς καιρου καιρού καιροῦ καιρους καιρούς καιροὺς καιρω καιρώ καιρῷ καιρων καιρών καιρῶν kairo kairō kairoi kairoì kairôi kairō̂i kairois kairoîs kairon kairón kairòn kairôn kairōn kairō̂n kairos kairós kairòs kairou kairoû kairous kairoùsInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts