Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
χιλιοι
The adjective χιλιοι (chilioi) means a thousand, but note that in the first century, people didn't maintain as strict an arithmetic standard as we do today. There weren't many instances of the number thousand (one thousand of the same things is quite rare in the real world) and when such a thing occurred, it was rarely necessary to precisely count them. In other words: our adjective χιλιοι (chilioi) rather means "a whole bunch; probably somewhere near ten groups of roughly a hundred each".
Our word appears 11 times in the New Testament, all but once in Revelation; see full concordance. Also see our article on μυριος (murios), from whence stems our English word "myriad".
Our adjective χιλιοι (chilioi) has one true derivation, namely:
- The noun χιλιας (chilias), denoting a group of a thousand items; a chiliad. This word occurs 23 times; see full concordance.
Our adjective χιλιοι (chilioi), meaning a thousand is also part of the following compounds:
- Together with adverb δις (dis), which comes from the cardinal number δυο (duo), meaning two, and which means twice: the cardinal number δισχιλιοι (dischilioi), meaning two thousand (Mark 5:13 only).
- Together with the adverb επτακις (heptakis), which means seven-fold and which derives from επτα (hepta), meaning seven: the cardinal number επτακισχιλιοι (heptakischilioi), meaning seven thousand (Romans 11:4 only).
- Together with the cardinal number πεντε (pente), meaning five: the cardinal number πεντακισχιλιοι (pentakischilioi), meaning five thousand. This word is used 6 times; see full concordance.
- Together with a derivation of the cardinal number τετρα (tetra), meaning four: the cardinal number τετρακισχιλιοι (tetrakischilioi), meaning four thousand. This word occurs 5 times; see full concordance.
- Together with adverb τρις (tris), meaning trice, which derives from τρεις (treis), meaning three: the cardinal number τρισχιλιοι (trischilioi), meaning three thousand (Acts 2:41 only).
- Together with the verb αρχω (archo), meaning to rule or command: the noun χιλιαρχος (chiliarchos), denoting the commander of a thousand troops. This noun is used 22 times; see full concordance.