What does λύκος (lýkos) mean in the Bible?
λύκος (lýkos): Used figuratively for false teachers and dangerous enemies who deceive the innocent under false appearance of safety.
Greek · G3074
λύκος
A wolf
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λύκος G3074
Pronunciation lýkos
What does λύκος (lýkos) mean in the Bible?
λύκος (lýkos): Used figuratively for false teachers and dangerous enemies who deceive the innocent under false appearance of safety.
Full entry for λύκος (G3074) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3074?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wolves (4), wolf (2).
Where does λύκος (lýkos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:15. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Matthew (2), Acts (1), Luke (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 It wolves 4× Matthew 7:15, Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3, Acts 20:29
wolf 2× John 10:12
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 7:15 λύκοι to wolves Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural Matthew 10:16 λύκων to wolves Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural Luke 10:3 λύκων to wolves Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural John 10:12 λύκον to wolf Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular John 10:12 λύκος to wolf Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 20:29 λύκοι to wolves Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 7:15
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 4
Matthew 2 Luke 1 John 2 Acts 1
Source forms
λύκοι 2x lykoi Matthew 7:15, Acts 20:29
λύκων 2x lykōn Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3
λύκον 1x lykon John 10:12
λύκος 1x lykos John 10:12
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 2x Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural 2x Matthew 7:15, Acts 20:29
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x John 10:12
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x John 10:12
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Used figuratively for false teachers and dangerous enemies who deceive the innocent under false appearance of safety.
Strong's G3074
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 4 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Matthew 10:16 Source Gloss
a wolf
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 7:15 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
λύκοι lukoi
a wolf, jackal
Read verse Matthew 10:16 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
λύκων· lukwn
a wolf, jackal
Read verse Luke 10:3 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
λύκων. lukwn
a wolf, jackal
Read verse John 10:12 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
λύκον lukon
a wolf, jackal
Read verse John 10:12 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
λύκος lukov
a wolf, jackal
Read verse Acts 20:29 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
λύκοι lukoi
a wolf, jackal
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 4 Aligned forms 6 Case pattern Nominative (3) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Matt 7:15 · Acts 20:29 2×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine John 10:12 1×
Genitive · Plural · Masculine Matt 10:16 · Luke 10:3 2×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine John 10:12 1×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Literal wolves as predators among sheep, metaphor for danger
Literal wolves as predators, figurative image of hostile opposition to disciples
Figurative: false prophets disguised as sheep, deceptive spiritual danger
Figurative: dangerous false teachers who exploit Christian communities after departure
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
λύκος is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain