How to Pronounce Leviathan

Luh-VIE-uh-thun

Leviathan is pronounced Luh-VIE-uh-thun (lɛˈvaɪəθən): four syllables, stress on the second. Also heard: leh-VYE-uh-thuhn.

What is Leviathan?

A transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning “twisted,” “coiled.” In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg. of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in 41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Ps. 104:26 it “denotes any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep.” This word is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think “the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and cast on the shores of the Red Sea” (Ps. 74:14). As used in Isa. 27:1, “leviathan the piercing [R.V. ‘swift’] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V. marg.

Adapted from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), public domain.

Also pronounced

leh-VYE-uh-thuhn

Found in Scripture

Names nearby

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