What does μαλακός (malakós) mean in the Bible?
μαλακός (malakós): Soft texture contrasted with σκληρός; applied to persons denotes moral weakness or sexual indulgence.
Greek · G3120
μαλακός
Soft/effeminate
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μαλακός G3120
Pronunciation malakós
What does μαλακός (malakós) mean in the Bible?
μαλακός (malakós): Soft texture contrasted with σκληρός; applied to persons denotes moral weakness or sexual indulgence.
Full entry for μαλακός (G3120) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3120?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include fine (1), fine [clothes] (1), fine [clothing] (1), men who submit to (1).
Where does μαλακός (malakós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (2), 1 Corinthians (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 fine 1× Luke 7:25
fine [clothes] 1× Matthew 11:8
fine [clothing] 1× Matthew 11:8
men who submit to 1× 1 Corinthians 6:9
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:8
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Matthew 2 Luke 1 1 Corinthians 1
Source forms
μαλακοῖς 2x malakois Matthew 11:8, Luke 7:25
μαλακὰ 1x malaka Matthew 11:8
μαλακοὶ 1x malakoi 1 Corinthians 6:9
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Dative Neuter Plural 2x Matthew 11:8, Luke 7:25
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x Matthew 11:8
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x 1 Corinthians 6:9
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Soft texture contrasted with σκληρός; applied to persons denotes moral weakness or sexual indulgence.
Strong's G3120
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 3 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
soft/effeminate
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Soft texture contrasted with σκληρός; applied to persons denotes moral weakness or sexual indulgence.
soft;
2Of persons and their mode of living;
amild, gentle;
bsoft, effeminate: 1Co.6:9 (prob. in obscene sense, cf. Deiss., LAE, 150, 4; MM, xvi; Zorell, see word).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek 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 11:8 Adjective Dative Plural Neuter
μαλακοῖς malakoiv
soft, effeminate
Read verse Matthew 11:8 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
μαλακὰ malaka
soft, effeminate
Read verse Luke 7:25 Adjective Dative Plural Neuter
μαλακοῖς malakoiv
soft, effeminate
Read verse 1 Corinthians 6:9 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
μαλακοί, malakoi
soft, effeminate
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 3 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 3 Aligned forms 4 Case pattern Dative (2) Number pattern Plural (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Plural · Masculine 1 Cor 6:9 1×
Dative · Plural · Neuter Matt 11:8 · Luke 7:25 2×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Matt 11:8 1×
Word Origins
μαλακός is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
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