Bible Lexicons

Berry's Synonyms of the New TestamentBerry's NT Synonyms

Basket

σπυρίς, κόφινος.

These words in the N.T. are used with an evident purpose to discriminate between them. The distinction, however, does not seem to have been chiefly one of size, as some have thought, but of use. σπυρίς is usually a basket for food, a lunch-basket, a hamper, while κόφινος is a more general term for basket. The descriptions of the two miracles of feeding the multitude use always different words in the two cases, see e.g. Mark 8:19.