Exploring the Meaning of Korasion in Greek

κοράσιον names a “girl” in Gospel narratives where a female child or young female is present as a central figure in the action. The word appears in scenes of healing and restoration, and in scenes surrounding Herod’s court and the death of John the Baptist.

Occurrences

Matthew 9:24 — he said to them, “Make room, because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” They were ridiculing him.

Here κοράσιον identifies the one at the center of the household’s crisis and the crowd’s reaction. The speaker’s directive (“Make room”) turns the girl into the immediate reason for clearing space, and the statement about her condition (“isn’t dead, but sleeping”) frames how the bystanders interpret what is happening. The crowd’s ridicule attaches not to an abstract claim but to the situation of this particular girl, whose condition is being re-described in front of them.

Matthew 9:25 — But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose.

In the next line the same girl is the direct object of a concrete, gentle action: she is taken “by the hand.” κοράσιον highlights that the one who “arose” is not an adult but a girl, so the narrative’s focus is on a small and vulnerable person being restored. The sequence—crowd removed, entrance, touch, rising—keeps the girl at the center of the movement from disorder to recovery.

Matthew 14:11 — His head was brought on a platter, and given to the young lady; and she brought it to her mother.

In this court scene κοράσιον points to the young female who becomes the recipient and courier of a grisly object. The word helps define the chain of transfer: the head is “given to the young lady,” and she, in turn, “brought it to her mother.” Within the verse’s tight narrative economy, the girl is not merely present; she is the hinge by which the act reaches the mother, making her role instrumental in the outcome described.

Mark 5:41 — Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!”

Mark places the girl in both touch and address. The narrator first describes her as “the child,” then reports a spoken command whose interpreted form includes the direct vocative “Girl.” κοράσιον therefore functions here as the personal, spoken form of address within the scene, matching the immediacy of “I tell you, get up!” It marks the command as directed to a specific girl, not a general instruction, and it pairs the physical gesture (“Taking the child by the hand”) with an equally personal verbal summons.

Mark 5:42 — Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.

In this outcome statement κοράσιον is the subject of the verbs “rose up and walked,” so the girl is the visible evidence that the command has taken effect. The added note “for she was twelve years old” anchors the girl’s identity in a specific age, reinforcing her youth and strengthening the sense of wonder reported at the end. The amazement of the onlookers is tied to what the girl does—rising and walking—so the word stands at the center of the scene’s astonishment.

Mark 6:22 — When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”

Here κοράσιον designates the one addressed by the king after her dance. The verse sets her within a relational description (“the daughter of Herodias”) and then shifts to her as the recipient of speech: “The king said to the young lady….” The word underscores that the lavish promise—“Ask me whatever you want”—is spoken to a girl, which intensifies the imbalance between the authority of “the king” and the youth of the one being granted a sweeping offer.

Mark 6:28 — and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother.

This verse repeats the transfer pattern with emphatic clarity, naming the girl twice in the same line: she receives (“gave it to the young lady”) and then passes on (“the young lady gave it to her mother”). κοράσιον thus marks her as both endpoint and conduit. The repetition keeps the reader’s attention on the girl’s role as the one through whom the act is completed in the family line described.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages κοράσιον consistently points to a female who is young, and the narratives place that “girl” in situations that are emotionally and socially charged. In Matthew 9 and Mark 5 the girl is the focus of urgent concern and restoration. The word belongs to scenes where others gather (a crowd that must be “put out,” onlookers “amazed with great amazement”), and where the girl’s condition becomes the public point of debate (“isn’t dead, but sleeping”). The girl’s youth is not treated as a minor detail; it shapes how the actions land. A hand is taken, a command is spoken directly to “Girl,” and the result is observable in her movement: she “rose up and walked.”

In Mark 5 the word also appears within reported speech as a form of address (“Girl, I tell you, get up!”). Used this way, κοράσιον is not simply a label for someone being discussed; it is a term that places the girl in a direct interpersonal exchange. The narrative frames this address alongside physical touch (“Taking the child by the hand”), so the girl is met both verbally and bodily as a person to be raised and restored.

In the Herod narratives (Matthew 14; Mark 6) the same word operates in a different social setting: a royal banquet and its aftermath. The girl is explicitly the one to whom something is given—first the king’s promise (“Ask me whatever you want”), then the delivered head “on a platter.” The repeated sequence “given to the young lady… [she] brought it to her mother” or “the young lady gave it to her mother” shows the girl functioning as an intermediary between powerful adults: a king who speaks and grants, and a mother who receives. Within the quoted verses, the girl’s agency is portrayed through actions (coming in, dancing, receiving, bringing, giving), but the surrounding control and consequences belong to the court setting and the family dynamics named in the text.

Taken together, these uses show κοράσιον as a word that can sit naturally in domestic scenes of distress and healing and also in public scenes where a girl’s actions become pivotal in a morally weighty outcome. Whether the girl is lying in a house with a crowd outside, or standing in a hall before a king, the word keeps the focus on her youth and her concrete role in the unfolding event.

Imagery

The word’s imagery in these passages is vivid because it is tied to tactile and visible moments. A girl is spoken about as “sleeping,” then rises when her hand is taken. A girl is addressed with a direct command to “get up,” and she immediately “walked.” In another setting a girl dances before those “sitting with” the king and receives extravagant speech and then a platter-borne gift, carrying it to her mother. Across the scenes, κοράσιον gathers these contrasts—handheld restoration and courtly display, astonishment and ridicule, life regained and death delivered—around the concrete figure of a girl.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).