What does πταίω (ptaíō) mean in the Bible?
πταίω (ptaíō): Moral stumbling in NT usage: to fail or offend in ethical conduct, not merely physical falling
Greek · G4417
πταίω
To stumble
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πταίω G4417
Pronunciation ptaíō
What does πταίω (ptaíō) mean in the Bible?
πταίω (ptaíō): Moral stumbling in NT usage: to fail or offend in ethical conduct, not merely physical falling
Full entry for πταίω (G4417) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4417?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include at fault (1), did they stumble (1), stumble (1), stumbles (1), We all stumble (1).
Where does πταίω (ptaíō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 11:11. Its strongest book concentrations include James (3), 2 Peter (1), Romans (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 at fault 1× James 3:2
did they stumble 1× Romans 11:11
stumble 1× 2 Peter 1:10
stumbles 1× James 2:10
We all stumble 1× James 3:2
Show sample aligned rows
Romans 11:11 ἔπταισαν to did they stumble Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural James 2:10 πταίσῃ to stumbles Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular James 3:2 πταίομεν to We all stumble Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural James 3:2 πταίει to at fault Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 2 Peter 1:10 πταίσητέ to stumble Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Romans 11:11
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 3
Romans 1 James 3 2 Peter 1
Source forms
ἔπταισαν 1x eptaisan Romans 11:11
πταίει 1x ptaiei James 3:2
πταίομεν 1x ptaiomen James 3:2
πταίσῃ 1x ptaisē James 2:10
πταίσητέ 1x ptaisēte 2 Peter 1:10
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Romans 11:11
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural 1x 2 Peter 1:10
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x James 2:10
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural 1x James 3:2
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x James 3:2
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Moral stumbling in NT usage: to fail or offend in ethical conduct, not merely physical falling
Strong's G4417
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 2 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link James 3:1–6 Source Gloss
to stumble
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Moral stumbling in NT usage: to fail or offend in ethical conduct, not merely physical falling
1trans., to cause to stumble (1Ki.4:3, cf. Deiss., BS, 681).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 11:11 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἔπταισαν eptaisan
I stumble, fall, sin
Read verse James 2:10 Verb Third Person Singular Future Active Indicative
πταίσει ptaisei
I stumble, fall, sin
Read verse James 3:2 Verb First Person Plural Present Active Indicative
πταίομεν ptaiomen
I stumble, fall, sin
Read verse James 3:2 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
πταίει, ptaiei
I stumble, fall, sin
Read verse 2 Peter 1:10 Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Active Subjunctive
πταίσητέ ptaishte
I stumble, fall, sin
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 groups 2 Aligned forms 5 Tenses Aorist, Present Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Present Active Jas 3:2 2×
Aorist Active Rom 11:11 1×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 2×
Aorist Active Jas 2:10 · 2 Pet 1:10 2×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 3 present 2
Voice
active 5
Mood
indicative 3 subjunctive 2
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)
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Additional Occurrences
we stumble
New Testament Witnesses
we stumble
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
πταίω is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Acknowledges universal moral weakness in speech. James 3:1–6
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