Quick Definition
I empty, deprive of content, make unreal
Strong's Definition
to make empty, i.e. (figuratively) to abase, neutralize, falsify
Derivation: from G2756 (κενός);
KJV Usage: make (of none effect, of no reputation, void), be in vain
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
κενόω, κενῷ: (future κενώσω, 1Co_9:15 L text T Tr WH); 1 aorist ἐκενωσα; passive, perfect κεκνωμαι; 1 aorist ἐκενωθην;
1. to empty, make empty: ἑαυτόν ἐκένωσε, namely, τοῦ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ or τῆς μορφῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, i. e. he laid aside equality with or the form of God (said of Christ), Php_2:7 (see a fuller exposition of this passage in
2. to make void i. e. deprive of force, render vain, useless, of no effect: passive, Rom_4:14; 1Co_1:17.
3. to make void i. e. cause a thing to be seen to be empty, hollow, false: τό καύχημα, 1Co_9:15; passive 2Co_9:3. (Twice in the Sept. viz. Jer_14:2; Jer_15:9; often in Attic writings.)
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
κενόω kenoō 5x
to empty, evacuate; ἑαυτόν , to divest one s self of one s prerogatives, abase one s self, Php_2:7 ;
to deprive a thing of its proper functions, Rom_4:14 ; 1Co_1:17 ;
to show to be without foundation, falsify, 1Co_9:15 ; 2Co_9:3
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
κενόω , -ῶ ,
( < κενός , q.v. ),
[in LXX : Jer_14:2 ; Jer_15:9 ( H5999 pu .) * ;]
to empty . Metaph ., to empty, make empty, vain or of no effect: καύχημα , 1Co_9:15 ; ἑαυτόν , of Christ, Php_2:7 ( v Lft .; ICC , in 1, and esp . Gifford , Incarn ., 54 ff .); pass ., πίστις , Rom_4:14 ; ὁ σταυρός , 1Co_1:17 ; καύχημα , 2Co_9:3†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
κενόω [page 340]
A new literary example of this word from ii/A.D. occurs in the Meliambi of Cercidas, P Oxy VIII. 1082 Fr. 1 ii. 5ff. ῥεῖα γάρ ἐστι θεῷ πᾶν ἐκτελέσαι χρῆμ᾽ ὅκκ᾽ ἐπὶ νοῦν ἴῃ , ἢ τὸν ῥυποκιβδοτόκωνα καὶ τεθνακοχαλκίδαν ἢ τ [ὸ ]ν παλινεκχυμενίταν τῶν κτεάνων ὄλεθρον τοῦτον κενῶσαι τᾶς συοπλουτοσύνας , for it is easy for a god to accomplish everything whenever it comes into his mind, and to empty of his swinish wealth the dirty usurer and hoarder or this outpourer and ruin of his substance (Ed.). So far as it goes this would seem to support the RV rendering emptied Himself in Php_2:7 . [For a note on this passage see JTS xii. p. 461 ff.] Cf. further the use of the compound ἐκκενόω in BGU I. 27 .7 (ii/iii A.D.) where a man in the com service writes to say ἐξε [κ̣]ε̣νωσα μὲν τῷ ῑη̄ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνός , I finished unloading on the 18th of the same month, P Ryl II. 125 .24 (A.D. 28 9), cited s.v. κενός , and Preisigke 4368 Λατομίας τὸ πρῶτον ἀνεύρετο , αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα τάσδ᾽ ὁ Μενιππείδης ἐξεκένωσε πέτρας a building inscription. On the other hand, the simplex appears to have the meaning make void in Vett. Val. p. 90 .7 ὁ τῆς περιποιήσεως κύριος ἐναντιούμενος τῷ περιποιήματι κενοῖ τὰς ὑπάρξεις . In ib. p. 190 .30 we have the phrase κένωσιν βίου , and in BGU III. 904 .13 (A.D. 161 2) ἐ ]κ τῆς κενώσεως is found in a broken context. An epigram from Smyrna of iii/B.C. speaks of οἱ κενέωμα τάφου ποθέοντες , and κενώματα , empty jars, is found in P Oxy X. 1292 .4 ( c. A.D. 30) al.
Liddell-Scott — Intermediate Greek Lexicon
κενόω κενόω, [Etym: κενός] "to empty out, drain", opp. to πληρόω, Aesch. , Eur. , etc.; c. gen. "to empty of" a thing:— Pass. "to be emptied, made or left empty", Soph. ; ἐς τὸ κενούμενον into "the space continually left empty", Thuc. ; c. gen., κεκεινωμένος πάντων "stripped" of all things, Hdt. "to make" a place "empty by leaving" it, "desert" it, Eur. metaph. "to make empty, to make of no account or of no effect", NTest. :—Pass. "to be or become so", id=NTest.
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
κενόω, -ῶ
(κενός, which see), [in LXX: Jer.14:2 15:9 (עָמָל pu.)* ;]
to empty. Metaphorical, to empty, make empty, vain or of no effect: καύχημα, 1Co.9:15; ἑαυτόν, of Christ, Php.2:7 (v Lft.; ICC, in 1, and esp. Gifford, Incarn., 54 ff.); pass., πίστις, Rom.4:14; ὁ σταυρός, 1Co.1:17; καύχημα, 2Co.9:3†
(AS)