🔼The name Chloe: Summary
- Meaning
- Verdure, Tender Shoot
- Etymology
- From the noun χλοη (chloe), tender shoot, verdure.
🔼The name Chloe in the Bible
Chloe, apparently, is a woman in Corinth whose household is big enough to account for Paul referring to Chloe's people (1 Corinthians 1:11). These people have informed Paul — who's then probably in Ephesus — about improprieties in the Corinthian church. This church has sent Paul a letter (7:1), which was possibly hand-carried to Paul by Chloe's people, who may be the same as the Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus of 16:17.
🔼Etymology of the name Chloe
The name Chloe is an off-the-shelf Greek noun meaning (1) the first shoot of plants in spring, the green blade of corn or grass, or (2) the young verdure of trees, foliage (says Liddell & Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon). It has to do with the word χλωρος (chloros), meaning green. The noun chloe isn't used in the Bible, but the word chloros shows up all over, most notably in the green horse of Revelation 6:8 (and see our discussion of the Green Horse of Revelation).
The word chloros lives on in our words chlorophyll and chloroform, but the noun chloe was once a star player in the world's language and was incorporated in many a composite word: χλοηκομεω (chloekomeo), meaning to be as green as a young leaf; χλοηφαγεω (chloephageo), meaning herbivorous; χλοητοκος (chloetokos), meaning producing young shoots. And some words that are obviously coming out of the same corner: χλοανος (chloanos), meaning greenish; χλοαυγης (chloauges), meaning with a green luster; χλουνης (chlounes), meaning making its bed in the grass.
🔼Chloe meaning
For a meaning of the name Chloe, Zodhiates' The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament reads Verdure, Tender Shoot. NOBSE Study Bible Name List has Verdure.