What does κακολογέω (kakologéō) mean in the Bible?
κακολογέω (kakologéō): To speak evil against someone with words; used of cursing parents or slandering God's name.
Greek · G2551
κακολογέω
To revile
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κακολογέωG2551
Pronunciationkakologéō
What does κακολογέω (kakologéō) mean in the Bible?
κακολογέω (kakologéō): To speak evil against someone with words; used of cursing parents or slandering God's name.
Full entry for κακολογέω (G2551) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2551?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include curses (2), maligned (1), speak evil of (1).
Where does κακολογέω (kakologéō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), Acts (1), Matthew (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itcurses2×Matthew 15:4, Mark 7:10
maligned1×Acts 19:9
speak evil of1×Mark 9:39
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 15:4κακολογῶνtocursesVerb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine SingularMark 7:10κακολογῶνtocursesVerb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine SingularMark 9:39κακολογῆσαίtospeak evil ofVerb - Aorist Infinitive ActiveActs 19:9κακολογοῦντεςtomalignedVerb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 15:4
Aligned rows4
Books represented3
Matthew1Mark2Acts1
Source forms
κακολογῶν2xkakologōnMatthew 15:4, Mark 7:10
κακολογῆσαί1xkakologēsaiMark 9:39
κακολογοῦντες1xkakologountesActs 19:9
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular2xMatthew 15:4, Mark 7:10
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active1xMark 9:39
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural1xActs 19:9
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To speak evil against someone with words; used of cursing parents or slandering God's name.
Strong'sG2551
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances4 timesWord forms2 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to revile
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
To speak evil against someone with words; used of cursing parents or slandering God's name.
(κακολόγος, slanderous), [in LXX: Exo.21:16 22:28, 1Ki.3:13, Pro.20:20, Eze.22:7 (קָלַל pi., hi.), 2Ma.4:1 * ;] to speak ill of, revile, abuse: with accusative of person(s), Mat.15:4, Mrk.7:10" (LXX) Mrk.9:39; with accusative of thing(s), Act.19:9.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 15:4Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
κακολογῶνkakologwn
I speak evil of, curse
Read verseMark 7:10Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
κακολογῶνkakologwn
I speak evil of, curse
Read verseMark 9:39Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
κακολογῆσαίkakologhsai
I speak evil of, curse
Read verseActs 19:9Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
κακολογοῦντεςkakologountev
I speak evil of, curse
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups2Aligned forms4TensesPresent, AoristVoicesActive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality3×
Present ActiveMatt 15:4 · Mark 7:10 · Acts 19:93×
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract1×
Aorist ActiveMark 9:391×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present3aorist1
Voice
active4
Mood
participle3infinitive1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
κακολογέω is built from these roots: