Home › Glossary › Letter E

Ephrathite

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Ephrathite denotes a person connected with Ephrath or the region of Ephraim.

Detailed Definition
The term appears as a marker of origin in biblical narratives, identifying figures by their regional or ancestral belonging. Such a name makes geography part of identity, carrying fields, borders, dialects, and remembered kin into a single adjective. In poetry, Ephrathite may evoke the tension between a person’s private life and the place-name that precedes them, as though every traveler bears a landscape in the name.
Example
Example in poetry:
“An Ephrathite walks out of Bethlehem with famine at his back” uses the term to identify a person from the region of Ephrath or Ephrathah; A poet may call a character an Ephrathite to give a brief biblical genealogy emotional weight; “The Ephrathite returns to fields his ancestors once knew” connects landscape with inherited identity; The term can suggest rootedness even when the character is forced to travel.
Additional Notes
Ephrathite usually means a person from Ephrath, an ancient name associated especially with Bethlehem, as in references to Elimelech and David’s family. It does not ordinarily mean a person from the tribe or territory of Ephraim, despite the similar spelling. The term can therefore carry associations of Bethlehem, Davidic ancestry, rural Judah, and messianic expectation. Related place names include Ephrathah and Bethlehem.
Also Known As
Ephraimite
Skip to main content