Quick Definition
φυλή, ῆς, ἡ n.f. a tribe, race
Strong's Definition
from 5453 (compare 5444); an offshoot, i.e. race or clan
KJV Usage: kindred, tribe
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, f. | -ῆς | φύω
10.2 · Kinship Terms · Groups and Members of Groups of Persons Regarded as Related by Blood but without Special Reference to Successive Generations
tribe a subgroup of a nation which is regarded as being more closely related biologically than the entire nation In a number of societies there are only three well-defined biologically related groups: (1) the nuclear family (that is to say, the immediate family); (2) the extended family (often referred to as ‘the clan’); and (3) the tribe or nation as a whole. Under such circumstances it may be necessary to speak of the twelve tribes of Israel as being ‘twelve large clans.’ This would emphasize their biological relationships and at the same time would suggest that they constituted part of a larger ethnic unit, namely, the nation. On the other hand, a number of so-called ‘primitive societies’ have a great many designations for different sets of biologically related persons. These may designate an individual family, an extended family, the clan, a grouping of clans, a division of a tribe into two interacting units (called moieties), and finally the tribe as a whole, equivalent in larger societies to a nation. The choice of appropriate terms for various groups of biologically related persons becomes particularly complex in certain passages in the OT.
MAT 19:28 · LUK 2:36 · LUK 22:30 · ACT 13:21 · ROM 11:1 · PHP 3:5 · HEB 7:13 · HEB 7:14 · JAS 1:1 · REV 5:5 · REV 5:9 · REV 7:4 · REV 7:5 · REV 7:5 · REV 7:5 · REV 7:6 · REV 7:6 · REV 7:6 · REV 7:7 · REV 7:7 · REV 7:7 · REV 7:8 · REV 7:8 · REV 7:8 · REV 7:9 · REV 11:9 · REV 13:7 · REV 14:6 · REV 21:12
11.56 · Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes · Socio-Political
nation, people a relatively large unit of people who constitute a sociopolitical group, sharing a presumed biological descent (in many contexts πατριά[b] and φυλή[b] are very similar in meaning to ἔθνος[a], 11.55)
11.15 · Groups and Classes of Persons and Members of Such Groups and Classes · Socio-Religious
Collocation: αἱ δώδεκα φυλαί
all God’s people (a set phrase, literally: the twelve tribes, but used in a figurative sense) all of the people of God as a possible reference to the new Israel It is possible to understand JAS 1:1 as containing a salutation to the twelve tribes of Israel scattered throughout the Diaspora, but this literal interpretation has generally been rejected for a reference to all of God’s people scattered throughout the known world. If one elects to follow a literal translation of this passage, it would be important to introduce a marginal note indicating the alternative meaning and vice versa.
1 πατριά[a] and φυλή[b] nation, people (11.56) focus attention upon a particular people as a socially functioning unit, while the feature of biological descent is largely secondary. But in the case of γένος[b] and σάρξ[e], the feature of biological descent is focal, while group functioning is largely secondary.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
φυλή, -ῆς, ἡ, (fr. φύω), fr. Pind. and Hdt. down ; aL a tribe; in the N.T. all the persons descended from one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (Sept. for 792 and viv; also for NMSwWN, see πατριά, 2): Heb. vii. 13 sq-; with the addition of the genitives ᾿Ασήρ, Βενιαμίν, ete., Lk. ii. 36; Acts xiii. 21; Ro. χὶ. 1 ; Phil. iii. 5; Rev. νυ. 5; vii. 5-8; δώδεκα φ. τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, Mt. xix. 28; Lk. xxii. 30; Jas.i. 1; Rev. xxi. 12; [πᾶσα φυλὴ υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, Rev. vii. 4]. 2. a race, nation, people: Mt. xxiv. 30; Rev. [i. 7]; v.9; vii. 9; [xi.9]; xiii. 7; xiv. 6.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
φυλή phylē 31x
a tribe, Mt. 19:28; 24:30; Lk. 2:36; a people, nation, Rev. 1:7; 5:9
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
φυλή, ῆς, ἡ
[in LXX chiefly for; מַטֶּה, also for שֵׁבֶט, מִשְׁפָּחָה, etc. ;]
a body of men united by kinship or habitation, a clan or tribe: of the tribes of Israel, Mt 19:28, Lk 2:36 22:30, Ac 13:21, Ro 11:1, Phl 3:5, He 7:13, 14, Ja 1:1, Re 5:5 7:4-8 21:12; of the tribes of the earth, the peoples and nations, Mt 24:30, Re 1:7 5:9 7:9 11:9 13:7 14:6.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
φυλή, “‘a tribe,” especially one of the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt τοῦ a/.), and extended by analogy to the tribes of the earth (Mt 24%° a/.). For the priestly tribes in Egypt, cf. P Tebt II. 2998 (c. A.D. 50), where a certain Psoiphis, τῶν ἀ[πὸ THs κώ]μης πέμπτη[ς φυλῆς] ἱερέος (1. ἱερέως) τῶν ἐν [τῇ κώμῃ] θεῶν, ““ priest of the fifth tribe of the gods at the village,” asks that the birth of a son be registered, P Kyl Il. 179° (A.D. 127) Πακῦσις . . . ἱερεὺς πρώτης φυλῆς Σοκνοπαίου θεοῦ μεγάλου, and similarly %*7, See further Otto Priester i. p. 23 ff. In Claudius’s address to the Alexandrines P Lond 19124! (A.D. 41) a φυλὴ Κλαυδιανά, not known elsewhere, is mentioned : see the editor’s note, where reference is made to Schubart Archiv v. p. 94f. for the Alexandrian tribenames of the Roman period. Cf. also Preisigke Fachworter 5.U. φυλή.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
φυλή (phulē) — tribe. φῡλή, ἡ, (φύω) properly, like{φῦλον}, a race, tribe; but accusative to [Refs 4th c.BC+] a union formed in an organized community (whether πόλις or ἔθνος): hence, tribe, i.e.
I. a body of men united
I.1. by supposed ties of blood and descent, clan, such as the three Dorian tribes, Rhetra cited in [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the four Ionic tribes, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the Laconian, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the old Roman, [Refs 1st c.BC+]; of the Persian, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of the Jewish, [LXX] (but also of subdivisions of the tribe (σκῆπτρον),[LXX+NT]
I.2. by local habitation, such as the ten local tribes at Athens formed by Cleisthenes, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; or those formed by Servius at Rome, φ. τοπικαί, opposed to γενικαί, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
I.3. subdivision of the priests in each Egyptian temple, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]
II. military contingent furnished by a tribe, among the Athenians, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.2. representatives of a tribe, on political bodies, φυλῆς πρυτανευούσης, προεδρευούσης, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]
III. of things, ={γένος}, kind, species, κατὰ φυλὰς διεκρίνομεν τὰ ἔπιπλα [Refs 5th c.BC+]