What does σαπρός (saprós) mean in the Bible?
σαπρός (saprós): Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
Greek · G4550
σαπρός
Rotten
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σαπρός G4550
Pronunciation saprós
What does σαπρός (saprós) mean in the Bible?
σαπρός (saprós): Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
Full entry for σαπρός (G4550) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4550?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bad (3), [a] bad (1), [and a] bad (1), [will be] bad (1), a bad (1).
Where does σαπρός (saprós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (5), Luke (2), Ephesians (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 bad 3× Matthew 12:33, Matthew 13:48, Luke 6:43
[a] bad 1× Luke 6:43
[and a] bad 1× Matthew 7:18
[will be] bad 1× Matthew 12:33
a bad 1× Matthew 7:17
unwholesome 1× Ephesians 4:29
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 7:17 σαπρὸν to a bad Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Matthew 7:18 σαπρὸν to [and a] bad Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Matthew 12:33 σαπρὸν to bad Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular Matthew 12:33 σαπρόν to [will be] bad Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 13:48 σαπρὰ to bad Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural Luke 6:43 σαπρόν to bad Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular Luke 6:43 σαπρὸν to [a] bad Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular Ephesians 4:29 σαπρὸς to unwholesome Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 7:17
Aligned rows 8
Books represented 3
Matthew 5 Luke 2 Ephesians 1
Source forms
σαπρὸν 4x sapron Matthew 7:17, Matthew 7:18, Matthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
σαπρόν 2x sapron Matthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
σαπρὰ 1x sapra Matthew 13:48
σαπρὸς 1x sapros Ephesians 4:29
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 3x Matthew 7:17, Matthew 7:18, Luke 6:43
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular 2x Matthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural 1x Matthew 13:48
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular 1x Matthew 12:33
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Ephesians 4:29
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
Strong's G4550
Lexical occurrences 8 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 5 forms 8 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
rotten
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
[in Sm.: Lev.27:14, 33 * ;] rotten, corrupt, bad, worthless: of trees and fruit (opposite to ἀγαθός, καλός), Mat.7:17-18 12:33 Luk.6:43; of fish, Mat.13:48. Metaphorical, in moral sense: λόγος σ., Eph.4:29. "In Hellenistic . . . it became a synonym for αἰσχρός or κακός," MM, xxii.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 7:17 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸν sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Matthew 7:18 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸν sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Matthew 12:33 Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
σαπρόν, sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Matthew 12:33 Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
σαπρόν· sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Matthew 13:48 Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
σαπρὰ sapra
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Luke 6:43 Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
σαπρόν· sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Luke 6:43 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸν sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verse Ephesians 4:29 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
σαπρὸς saprov
rotten, useless, corrupt
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 5 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 5 Aligned forms 8 Case pattern Accusative (4) Number pattern Singular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Neuter Matt 7:17 · Matt 7:18 · Luke 6:43 3×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Eph 4:29 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Matt 12:33 · Luke 6:43 2×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter Matt 12:33 1×
Accusative · Plural · Neuter Matt 13:48 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 6:43–49 σαπρός saprós
Corrupt, rotten
Showing 1 selected witness from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
σαπρός 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