Kosmos comes from a verb komizo which means "to take care of" or "to tend." Kosmos is primarily defined as "an orderly arrangement" of which the stars and planet were perceived as an example. I think a good English equivalent might be something like "design." which can refer to the Grand Design or to hair and makeup. Answer from brojangles on reddit.com
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Precept Austin
preceptaustin.org › world-kosmos
World - Kosmos (Greek Word Study) | Precept Austin
May 18, 2021 - When one speaks of a "cosmopolitan" city, it means a city which has citizens from many parts of the world. Kosmos is the absolute antithesis of chaos (a Greek word meaning a rude, unformed mass), chaos being the fantasized condition with which the theory of evolution begins!
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Bible Study Tools
biblestudytools.com › lexicons › greek › nas › kosmos.html
Kosmos Meaning - Greek Lexicon | New Testament (NAS) | Bible Study Tools
Discover the original meaning of Kosmos in the NAS Bible using the New Testament Greek Lexicon - King James Version. Learn the audio pronunciation, word origin and usage in the Bible, plus scripture verse references of Kosmos.
Discussions

Why does the Greek word Kosmos mean world/worldly and adornment?
Kosmos comes from a verb komizo which means "to take care of" or "to tend." Kosmos is primarily defined as "an orderly arrangement" of which the stars and planet were perceived as an example. I think a good English equivalent might be something like "design." which can refer to the Grand Design or to hair and makeup. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/AcademicBiblical
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October 5, 2019
What did the Greek word "Kosmos" in the New Testament really mean?

Κοσμος means world in a universal sense, often used poetically, γε means earth, soil, the world as one, the land, or the physical state of being on earth.

More on reddit.com
🌐 r/AskBibleScholars
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July 7, 2017
Who or what is Kosmos?
Kosmos Was a concept in Greek philosophy that described roughly what we today would call the cosmos or the universe. The intricate order of things. We do not have an example of Kosmos being seen as a deity. Rather, the various gods had their duties in keeping the cosmos running. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/GreekMythology
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December 5, 2023
cosmos vs kosmos?
Welcome to r/askphilosophy ! Please read our updated rules and guidelines before commenting. Please note that as of July 1 2023, given recent changes to reddit's platform which make moderation significantly more difficult, r/askphilosophy has moved to only allowing answers and follow-up questions by panelists. If you wish to learn more, or to apply to become a panelist, see this post . I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/askphilosophy
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October 22, 2023
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Ezra Project
ezraproject.com › kosmos-what-in-the-world
Kosmos: What in the World? – Ezra Project
October 23, 2021 - In Greek, the most common word for “world” is kosmos (occurs 186 times). But that’s not the earliest meaning for the word.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/academicbiblical › why does the greek word kosmos mean world/worldly and adornment?
r/AcademicBiblical on Reddit: Why does the Greek word Kosmos mean world/worldly and adornment?
October 5, 2019 -

My apologies if I could articulate this better. Some people believe it is sinful to wear jewelry based on verses like 1 Peter 3:3-4. To me, for years I took it as moderation, a women’s beauty should first come from a godly character, and outward adornment is ok but should be used modestly.

However, while digging deeper, I noticed the Greek word for adornment in that passage is Kosmos, which in other places means world/worldly. Kosmos is also the word from which we get “cosmetics” from.

Pardon me for being new to this, but since they are the same word, does this mean adornment is worldly? If so how would we decipher what is acceptable clothing and not?

Thank you for your time!

Top answer
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Kosmos comes from a verb komizo which means "to take care of" or "to tend." Kosmos is primarily defined as "an orderly arrangement" of which the stars and planet were perceived as an example. I think a good English equivalent might be something like "design." which can refer to the Grand Design or to hair and makeup.
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It is normal and expected that words will have more than one usage or even more than one meaning, and how these are the same word can be quite confusing to a non-native speaker. For a similarly fashion-based example, see how in English “suit” can mean “appropriate”, or refer to a type of card, or to men’s dress clothes. It all seems quite normal to someone very familiar to a language, but might seem chaotic and absurd to someone not. In regards to κόσμος in particular, the base meaning is related to order (I’m sure Greek scholars can point to better sources, but see Strong’s Concordance 2889 for a simple source readily available to everyone, or Thayer’s for an equally readily available, but much more thorough breakdown), and is often parsed without context as “something ordered”. It makes a little more sense to us outsiders then, that it should be translated as both “world” (since the world could be thought of as an ordered system of sorts) and “adorned” (as in “put into order”, after a way). Thayers seems to imply that the latter is actually the older and more basic meaning, but it’s not surprising that the former would be more common in the New Testament, It’s an easy trap to fall into to assume that a word translated one way in place should be translated that way elsewhere, but that’s not how languages work. There is very rarely a direct, perfect one-to-one correspondence that works for all meanings, usages, and contexts. I’d also keep in mind that the controversy over a single word doesn’t necessarily change the general meaning of an entire passage. Even if it were better read as “worldly garments” than as “adorned garments”, or even if “κόσμος” were missing entirely, that wouldn’t impact the appropriateness of your interpretation either way, in the context as a whole.
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Bill Mounce
billmounce.com › greek-dictionary › kosmos
κόσμος | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com
(1) pr. order, regular disposition; ornament, decoration, embellishment, 1 Pet. 3:3; (2) the world, the material universe, Mt. 13:35; the world, the aggregate of sensitive existence, 1 Cor. 4:9; the lower world, the earth, Mk. 16:15; the world, the aggregate of mankind, Mt.
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cosmos
Cosmos - Wikipedia
September 25, 2025 - The cosmos (/ˈkɒzmɒs/, US also /-moʊs, -məs/; Ancient Greek: κόσμος, romanized: kósmos) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word cosmos implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly ...
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Blue Letter Bible
blueletterbible.org › lexicon › g2889 › kjv › tr › 0-1
G2889 - kosmos - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv)
κόσμος kósmos, kos'-mos; probably from the base of G2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)):—adorning, world.
Find elsewhere
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Translation
translation.bible › wp-content › uploads › 2024 › 06 › clark-1999-the-word-kosmos-world-in-john-17.pdf pdf
The Word Kosmos “World” in John 17 - UBS Translations
the meaning of the Greek word. CEV translates as "this world," which · probably carries more of a sense of the world as a system hostile to God. In 17.15, kosmos occurs in the midst of a series of repetitions of the
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Bible Hub
biblehub.com › greek › 2887.htm
Strong's Greek: 2887. κόσμιος (kosmios) -- Orderly, respectable, well-behaved
Original Word: κόσμιος Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: kosmios Pronunciation: KOS-mee-os Phonetic Spelling: (kos'-mee-os) KJV: of good behaviour, modest NASB: proper, respectable Word Origin: [from G2889 (κόσμος - world) (in its primary sense)] 1. orderly, i.e. ...
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Bible Tools
bibletools.org › index.cfm › fuseaction › topical.show › RTD › cgg › ID › 2045 › Kosmos.htm
What the Bible says about Kosmos
What the Bible says about Kosmos (From Forerunner Commentary) · In Ephesians 2:2, Paul writes of "the course of this world." The Greek word kosmos, translated into the English word "world," essentially means an "orderly system." To human eyes beholding all the activity throughout the earth, ...
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Bible Tools
bibletools.org › index.cfm › fuseaction › Lexicon.show › ID › G2889 › kosmos.htm
Strongs's #2889: kosmos - Greek/Hebrew Definitions - Bible Tools
Strong's #2889: kosmos (pronounced kos'-mos) · probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)):--adorning, world
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Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org › wiki › κόσμος
κόσμος - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
κόσμος • (kósmos) m (genitive κόσμου); second declension (Epic, Attic, Ionic, Doric, Koine) ... ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “κόσμος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 759-760
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True Riches Academy
truerichesacademy.com › home › what the bible says about the world (who rules the “kosmos?”)
What The Bible Says About The World (Who Rules The "Kosmos?")
July 2, 2021 - The word “kosmos” appears 186 times in the New Testament. (The other word translated as “world” is “aión,” which refers to a space of time, an age. The word “aión” is not the topic of this video.) Perhaps the most popular instance of this Greek word “kosmos” appears in John 3:16, which reads: “For God so loved the world (“kosmos”) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
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Bible.org
bible.org › illustration › world-kosmos
World (Kosmos) | Bible.org
February 2, 2009 - Merrill Unger made note of the fact that “In more than thirty important passages the Greek word ‘kosmos’...is employed in the New Testament to portray the whole mass of unregenerate men alienated from God, hostile to Christ, and organized governmentally as a system or federation under Satan (John 7:7; 14:27; I Cor.
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Sage Journals
journals.sagepub.com › doi › abs › 10.1177 › 026009438003100406
The Meaning of Kosmos, “World”, in the New Testament - Robert G. Bratcher, 1980
Book Review: Cosmology in Outline: Fra Kaos til Kosmos: Verdensbilledets Historie Gennem 3000 År (From Chaos to Cosmos: The History of Cosmology during 3000 Years)
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Blue Letter Bible
blueletterbible.org › lang › lexicon › lexicon.cfm
H3068 - yᵊhōvâ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv)
Greek · In the beginning was the Word Arial · In the beginning was the Word Trebuchet · In the beginning was the Word Georgia · In the beginning was the Word Times New Roman · בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים SBL Hebrew · בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים Times New Roman ·
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Bible Hub
biblehub.com › greek › 2886.htm
Strong's Greek: 2886. κοσμικός (kosmikos) -- Worldly, earthly
Original Word: κοσμικός Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: kosmikos Pronunciation: kos-mee-kos' Phonetic Spelling: (kos-mee-kos') KJV: worldly NASB: earthly, worldly Word Origin: [from G2889 (κόσμος - world) (in its secondary sense)] 1. worldy ("cosmic") 2. (literally) ...
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Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-difference-between-kosmos-and-universe-in-Greek
What is the difference between 'kosmos' and 'universe' in Greek? - Quora
Answer (1 of 5): “Κόσμος” ... meaning of the two words was quite different. KOSMOS : ornament, decoration, good behaviour, propriety, harmony, ORDER,......
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Christ's Words
christswords.com › content › world
"World" | Christ's Words
Jesus uses the word in the Greek sense, the world of people. More to the point, the kosmos is the man-made world, the artificial world. It includes not only the physical products, our cities, and our tools, but also our man-made culture: our ideas, our sciences, and so on.