Jacob

See also: Jâcob and Jacòb

English

Etymology

From Middle English Iacob, from Late Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ, literally “May He Heel”), from the third-person singular masculine imperfective form of the Semitic verb "to heel" (with various meanings), in turn from עָקֵב (ʿāqēḇ, “heel of the foot”). Doublet of James, Yaakov, and Yakub.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒeɪkəb/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Proper noun

Jacob

  1. A male given name from Hebrew.
    • 1926 October, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 3, in The Sun Also Rises, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
      "Georgette. How are you called?" "Jacob." "That's a Flemish name." "American too." "You're not a Flamand?" "No, American." "Good, I detest Flamands." - - -
      Brett smiled at him. "I've promised to dance this with Jacob," she laughed. "You've a hell of a biblical name, Jake."
    • 2024 June 5, Sarah Dean, David McKenzie, “Jacob Zuma has made a dramatic comeback in South Africa’s elections. Will he have the last laugh over Ramaphosa?”, in CNN‎[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 28 August 2024:
      Analysts and opinion polls had forecast losses for the ANC but a pivotal factor in the party’s staggering decline was former President Jacob Zuma and his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which capitalized on widespread discontent within the ANC’s traditional voter base.
    2. (biblical) One of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, and twin brother of Esau; father of the Israelites (Jews and Samaritans) by 12 sons by 4 consorts, most famously Judah and Joseph who fathered Manasseh.
      Synonyms: Yaakov, Israel
    3. (Mormonism) The fifth son of Lehi and one of the younger brothers of Nephi, author of one of the books in the Book of Mormon.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Jacob (plural Jacobs)

  1. A breed of multihorned sheep.
  2. (UK, slang, obsolete) A ladder.
    • 1825, M. Egerton, Airy Nothings; Or, Scraps and Naughts, and Odd-cum-shorts, page 26:
      Where's the Jacob? — the what, sir? — the Jacob! the ladder ye fool!

References

  • (ladder): John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary‎[2]

Further reading

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Iācōbus, from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (ya‘ăqṓḇ, “Jacob”, literally “he will/shall heel”).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Jacob m

  1. Jacob (biblical figure)

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Jacob, from Late Latin Iacobus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יעקב (ya'aqóbh; Modern: Yaakov, “Jacob”, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עקב (‘aqev, “heel of the foot”). Also from Spanish Jacob.

Proper noun

Jacob

  1. a male given name from English or Spanish
  2. (biblical) Jacob

Danish

Alternative forms

Proper noun

Jacob

  1. a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Jacob or James

Descendants

  • → Greenlandic: Jaakupi, Jaakorpi
    • ⇒ Greenlandic: Jaakku, Jaaku, Iaaku (diminutive)
    • ⇒ Greenlandic: Jaakuaraq, Jakunguaq (diminutive)

References

  • [3] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 25 930 males with the given name Jacob (compared to 22 417 named Jakob) have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1970s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

Dutch

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈjaː.kɔp/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: Ja‧cob

Proper noun

Jacob m

  1. a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Jacob or James

Derived terms

Descendants

French

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Jacob m

  1. Jacob (biblical figure)
  2. a male given name

German

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈjaːkɔp]
  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • Hyphenation: Ja‧cob

Proper noun

Jacob

  1. a male given name, equivalent to English Jacob or James
  • Jakobchen, Köb, Köbes, Koeeb, Jäggi, Joggi

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin Iacobus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יעקב (ya'aqóbh, literally “he will/shall heel”).

Proper noun

Jācob m

  1. a male given name

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

Descendants

Middle High German

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin Iācōbus, borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ), from עָקַב.

    Proper noun

    Jācob m

    1. (biblical) Jacob (one of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca)
    2. (biblical) James (one of two Apostles)

    Declension

    This entry needs an inflection-table template.

    Descendants

    • → Alemannic German: Jakob
      • ⇒ Alemannic German: Jakobli (diminutive)
      • ⇒ Alemannic German: Joggi (diminutive)
      • ⇒ Alemannic German: Jockel (diminutive)
        • ⇒ Alemannic German: Jockeli (diminutive)
      • ⇒ Alemannic German: Köbi, Chöbi (diminutive)
    • → Bavarian: Jakob
      • ⇒ Bavarian: Jackl (diminutive)
    • Central Franconian:
    • German: Jakob, Jacob
      • ⇒ German: Jakobi, Jakobi
      • ⇒ German: Jakobchen (diminutive)
      • ⇒ German: Köb, Köbes, Koeeb (diminutive)
      • ⇒ German: Jäggi, Joggi (diminutive)
      • ⇒ German: Jeckel, Jäckel (diminutive)
      • ⇒ German: Jockel, Jokel (diminutive)
        • → English: yokel (noun)

    References

    • Benecke, Georg Friedrich; Müller, Wilhelm; Zarncke, Friedrich (1863), “Jâcob”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel.
    • Köbler, Gerhard (2014), “jācob”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch‎[4] (in German), 3rd edition

    Norwegian Bokmål

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    A spelling variant of Jakob, retaining the c found in Latin Iacobus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿăqōḇ). The meaning is disputed: the Old Testament associates the name with “holding the heel”, while another interpretation is “may God protect”. The surname is derived from the given name.

    Compare Danish Jacob, Swedish Jacob, German Jacob, English Jacob and Czech Jakub (“male given names”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈjɑː.kɔb/
    • Rhymes: -ɑːkɔb
    • Hyphenation: Ja‧cob

    Proper noun

    Jacob

    1. a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Jacob, a spelling variant of Jakob
    2. a surname transferred from the given name, derived from the male given name

    Usage notes

    • The spellings Jakob and Jacob were both used in the 19th century, when the spelling recorded in censuses was often chosen by the registrar rather than the name bearer. The names experienced renewed popularity around the beginning of the 21st century.

    Derived terms

    Statistics

    • According to Statistics Norway, 4,305 men in Norway had Jacob as their sole or first given name as of 31 December 2025.[1]
    • In 2025, 116 boys were given the spelling Jacob. Together with Jakob, the name ranked second among boys’ names, with 413 newborns.[2]
    • The surname Jacob was borne by 155 people in Norway as of 31 December 2025.[3]

    References

    1. ^ “Navn”, Statistics Norway.
    2. ^ “Navn”, Statistics Norway.
    3. ^ “Tabell over beskyttede etternavn 2025”, Statistics Norway.

    Old Galician-Portuguese

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin Iācōbus, borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ), from עָקַב.

      Cognate with Old Spanish Jacob and Old French James.

      Proper noun

      Jacob m

      1. (biblical) Jacob (one of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca)
      2. a male given name, equivalent to English Jacob

      Descendants

      References

      • Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “Jacob”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

      Portuguese

      Proper noun

      Jacob m

      1. alternative form of Jacó

      Spanish

      Etymology

      Inherited from Latin Iacob, from Ancient Greek Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿaqóv, “he will/shall heel”).

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /xaˈkob/ [xaˈkoβ̞]
      • Rhymes: -ob
      • Syllabification: Ja‧cob

      Proper noun

      Jacob m

      1. (biblical) Jacob (one of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, and twin brother of Esau; father of the Israelites (Jews and Samaritans) by 12 sons by 4 consorts, most famously Judah and Joseph who fathered Manasseh)
        • 1602, La Santa Biblia (antigua versión de Casiodoro de Reina), Génesis 25:27:
          Y crecieron los niños, y Esaú fué diestro en la caza, hombre del campo: Jacob empero era varón quieto, que habitaba en tiendas.
          And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. (KJV)

      Swedish

      Proper noun

      Jacob c (genitive Jacobs)

      1. a male given name, variant of Jakob
      This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.