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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σαπρόςG4550
Pronunciationsaprós
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 Itbad3×Matthew 12:33, Matthew 13:48, Luke 6:43
[a] bad1×Luke 6:43
[and a] bad1×Matthew 7:18
[will be] bad1×Matthew 12:33
a bad1×Matthew 7:17
unwholesome1×Ephesians 4:29
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 7:17σαπρὸνtoa badAdjective - Nominative Neuter SingularMatthew 7:18σαπρὸνto[and a] badAdjective - Nominative Neuter SingularMatthew 12:33σαπρὸνtobadAdjective - Accusative Neuter SingularMatthew 12:33σαπρόνto[will be] badAdjective - Accusative Masculine SingularMatthew 13:48σαπρὰtobadAdjective - Accusative Neuter PluralLuke 6:43σαπρόνtobadAdjective - Accusative Masculine SingularLuke 6:43σαπρὸνto[a] badAdjective - Nominative Neuter SingularEphesians 4:29σαπρὸςtounwholesomeAdjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 7:17
Aligned rows8
Books represented3
Matthew5Luke2Ephesians1
Source forms
σαπρὸν4xsapronMatthew 7:17, Matthew 7:18, Matthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
σαπρόν2xsapronMatthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
σαπρὰ1xsapraMatthew 13:48
σαπρὸς1xsaprosEphesians 4:29
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular3xMatthew 7:17, Matthew 7:18, Luke 6:43
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular2xMatthew 12:33, Luke 6:43
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural1xMatthew 13:48
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular1xMatthew 12:33
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular1xEphesians 4:29
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Moral corruption or worthlessness, applied to speech and character as decay from intended good.
Strong'sG4550
Lexical occurrences8 versesGreek text appearances8 timesWord forms5 forms8 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
rotten
Extended definitionSource: 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 corpusGreek 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 7:17Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸνsapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseMatthew 7:18Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸνsapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseMatthew 12:33Adjective Accusative Singular Neuter
σαπρόν,sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseMatthew 12:33Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
σαπρόν·sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseMatthew 13:48Adjective Accusative Plural Neuter
σαπρὰsapra
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseLuke 6:43Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
σαπρόν·sapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseLuke 6:43Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
σαπρὸνsapron
rotten, useless, corrupt
Read verseEphesians 4:29Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
σαπρὸςsaprov
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 patterns5Aligned forms8Case patternAccusative (4)Number patternSingular (7)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · NeuterMatt 7:17 · Matt 7:18 · Luke 6:433×
Nominative · Singular · MasculineEph 4:291×
Accusative · Singular · MasculineMatt 12:33 · Luke 6:432×
Accusative · Singular · NeuterMatt 12:331×
Accusative · Plural · NeuterMatt 13:481×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 6:43–49σαπρόςsaprós
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.