What does ταπεινός (tapeinós) mean in the Bible?
ταπεινός (tapeinós): Low in social status or humble in spirit; NT reframes as virtue rather than disgrace.
Greek · G5011
ταπεινός
Lowly
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ταπεινός G5011
Pronunciation tapeinós
What does ταπεινός (tapeinós) mean in the Bible?
ταπεινός (tapeinós): Low in social status or humble in spirit; NT reframes as virtue rather than disgrace.
Full entry for ταπεινός (G5011) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5011?
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to [the] humble (2), [am] humble (1), [the] humble (1), downcast (1), humble (1).
Where does ταπεινός (tapeinós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:29. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (2), James (2), 1 Peter (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 to [the] humble 2× James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
[am] humble 1× 2 Corinthians 10:1
[the] humble 1× Luke 1:52
downcast 1× 2 Corinthians 7:6
humble 1× Matthew 11:29
in humble circumstances 1× James 1:9
lowly 1× Romans 12:16
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:29 ταπεινὸς to humble Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular Luke 1:52 ταπεινούς to [the] humble Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural Romans 12:16 ταπεινοῖς to lowly Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural 2 Corinthians 7:6 ταπεινοὺς to downcast Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 2 Corinthians 10:1 ταπεινὸς to [am] humble Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular James 1:9 ταπεινὸς to in humble circumstances Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular James 4:6 ταπεινοῖς to to [the] humble Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural 1 Peter 5:5 ταπεινοῖς to to [the] humble Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:29
Aligned rows 8
Books represented 6
Matthew 1 Luke 1 Romans 1 2 Corinthians 2 James 2 1 Peter 1
Source forms
ταπεινοῖς 3x tapeinois Romans 12:16, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
ταπεινὸς 3x tapeinos Matthew 11:29, 2 Corinthians 10:1, James 1:9
ταπεινούς 1x tapeinous Luke 1:52
ταπεινοὺς 1x tapeinous 2 Corinthians 7:6
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Dative Masculine Plural 3x Romans 12:16, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 3x Matthew 11:29, 2 Corinthians 10:1, James 1:9
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural 2x Luke 1:52, 2 Corinthians 7:6
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Low in social status or humble in spirit; NT reframes as virtue rather than disgrace.
Strong's G5011
Lexical occurrences 8 verses Greek text appearances 8 times Word forms 3 forms 8 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link James 1:9–11 Source Gloss
lowly
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 11:29 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ταπεινὸς tapeinov
humble, lowly
Read verse Luke 1:52 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ταπεινούς. tapeinouv
humble, lowly
Read verse Romans 12:16 Adjective Dative Plural Masculine
ταπεινοῖς tapeinoiv
humble, lowly
Read verse 2 Corinthians 7:6 Adjective Accusative Plural Masculine
ταπεινοὺς tapeinouv
humble, lowly
Read verse 2 Corinthians 10:1 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ταπεινὸς tapeinov
humble, lowly
Read verse James 1:9 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ταπεινὸς tapeinov
humble, lowly
Read verse James 4:6 Adjective Dative Plural Masculine
ταπεινοῖς tapeinoiv
humble, lowly
Read verse 1 Peter 5:5 Adjective Dative Plural Masculine
ταπεινοῖς tapeinoiv
humble, lowly
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 8 Case pattern Dative (3) Number pattern Plural (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 11:29 · 2 Cor 10:1 · Jas 1:9 3×
Dative · Plural · Masculine Rom 12:16 · Jas 4:6 · 1 Pet 5:5 3×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Luke 1:52 · 2 Cor 7:6 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Additional Occurrences
lowly, humble, of low status
New Testament Witnesses
lowly, humble
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 8 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ταπεινός is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Refers to social and economic lowliness, highlighting reversal through spiritual exaltation. James 1:9–11
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