Bethesda

From Aramaic בֵּית חַסְדָּא (bēṯ ḥasdā, “House of Grace”).

• IPA^(key): /bəˈθɛz.də/

Bethesda

1. (biblical) A pool in Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament.
2. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A census-designated place in Independence County, Arkansas.
   2. An unincorporated community in Chatham County, Georgia.
   3. An unincorporated community in Greene County, Georgia.
   4. An unincorporated community in Douglas Township, Page County, Iowa.
   5. A census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland.
      • 2025 August 7, Hannah Harris Green, “‘Impossible to rebuild’: NIH scientists say Trump cuts will imperil life-saving research”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 August 2025:

        The Bethesda Declaration, signed by 484 NIH staff, directly accused NIH director Jay Bhattacharya of “a failure of your legal duty to use congressionally appropriated funds for critical NIH research. Each day that the NIH continues to disrupt research, your ability to deliver on this duty narrows.”

   6. An unincorporated community in Davidson County, North Carolina.
   7. An unincorporated community in Durham County, North Carolina.
   8. A village in Goshen Township, Belmont County, Ohio.
   9. An unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
   10. An unincorporated community in Williamson County, Tennessee.
   11. An unincorporated community in Wayne County, West Virginia.
   12. An unincorporated community in the town of Genesee, Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
3. A place in Canada:
   1. A community in the town of Innisfil, Simcoe County, Ontario.
   2. A hamlet in the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario.
4. A village in Saint Paul parish, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda.
5. A place in Wales:
   1. A town and community in Gwynedd, historically in Caernarvonshire (OS grid ref SH6266). ^[1]
   2. A small village in Llawhaden community, Pembrokeshire (OS grid ref SN0917).

Bethesda (plural Bethesdas)

1. (poetic) Any location whose waters are supposed to have curative properties.
   • 1903, Thomas De Witt Talmage, Richard S Rhodes, Evils of the cities:

     ...those who are afflicted with rheumatic, neuralgic, and splenetic diseases, go, and are cured by the thousands. These Bethesdas are scattered all up and down our country, blessed be God!

   • 1978, Garry Wills, Values Americans live by:

     Time was when this Bethesda too was curative, a sweet oasis in a parched and driven city. The day we went we found the fountain had been shut off.

From Aramaic (see English etymology).

• IPA^(key): /bɛˈtɛsda/

Bethesda n (proper noun, genitive Bethesdas or (optionally with an article) Bethesda)

1. Bethesda