What does φύλλον (phýllon) mean in the Bible?
Phyllon names a leaf, appearing here in plural forms. Matthew and Mark describe the leaves Jesus finds on a fig tree without fruit, and Mark explicitly notes that it was not the season for figs.
Greek · G5444
φύλλον
Phyllon names a leaf, appearing here in plural forms. Matthew and Mark describe the leaves Jesus finds on a fig tree without fruit, and Mark explicitly notes that it was not the season for figs.
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φύλλονG5444
Pronunciationphýllon
What does φύλλον (phýllon) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for φύλλον (G5444) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5444?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include leaves (5), leaf (1).
Where does φύλλον (phýllon) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 21:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (3), Matthew (2), Revelation (1).
Are there verse guides for φύλλον (phýllon)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
Phyllon names a leaf, appearing here in plural forms. Matthew and Mark describe the leaves Jesus finds on a fig tree without fruit, and Mark explicitly notes that it was not the season for figs. Their later fig-tree lesson uses emerging leaves as a familiar sign that summer is near within teaching about watchfulness. Revelation gives another setting: the tree of life by the river, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.
The noun therefore participates in narrative signs, a seasonal comparison and a vision of restored life. None of those functions supplies one fixed code for every leaf. Mark's fig-tree account surrounds the temple scene, including prayer for all nations, while Revelation centers the throne of God and the Lamb. Readers should retain those settings without turning leaves into a modern date formula, a diagnosis of someone's suffering or a promise about medicinal plants.
How the Bible Uses It
Six direct BSB leaf tokens in five verses occur in fruitless fig-tree narratives, seasonal fig-tree comparisons and the tree-of-life vision of healing for nations.
- Mark.11.13
Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs.
Two leaf forms describe the tree and its lack of fruit, with the explicit note that it was not fig season.
- Matt.21.19
Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
Leaves without fruit precede Jesus' word and the tree's withering, within the narrated temple and faith teaching.
- Mark.13.28
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near.
Sprouting leaves and approaching summer supply a familiar comparison within Jesus' instruction to remain watchful rather than calculate an unstated date.
- Matt.24.32
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near.
The fig-tree lesson belongs to a discourse that also says the day and hour are unknown, limiting speculative calendar use.
- Rev.22.2
Down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
The leaves for nations' healing belong to the tree of life beside the river from God's and the Lamb's throne.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itleaves5×Matthew 21:19, Matthew 24:32, Mark 11:13, Mark 13:28
leaf1×Mark 11:13
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 21:19φύλλαtoleavesNoun - Accusative Neuter PluralMatthew 24:32φύλλαtoleavesNoun - Accusative Neuter PluralMark 11:13φύλλαtoleafNoun - Accusative Neuter PluralMark 11:13φύλλαtoleavesNoun - Accusative Neuter PluralMark 13:28φύλλαtoleavesNoun - Accusative Neuter PluralRevelation 22:2φύλλαtoleavesNoun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 21:19
Aligned rows6
Books represented3
Matthew2Mark3Revelation1
Source forms
φύλλα6xphyllaMatthew 21:19, Matthew 24:32, Mark 11:13, Mark 13:28
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural5xMatthew 21:19, Matthew 24:32, Mark 11:13, Mark 13:28
Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural1xRevelation 22:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Offer restoration hope while attending patiently to suffering and practical needs.
- Reject pressure to accept an unsupported calendar or a guaranteed plant-based cure.
Avoid claiming...
- The leaf noun does not establish a modern fulfillment date or fixed national code.
- A person's bodily condition cannot be judged from the fig-tree narrative.
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Leaf as botanical component; in NT primarily marks seasonal vitality or barrenness of trees.
Source Gloss
leaf
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 21:19Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
φύλλαfulla
a leaf
Read verseMatthew 24:32Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
φύλλαfulla
a leaf
Read verseMark 11:13Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
φύλλα,fulla
a leaf
Read verseMark 11:13Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
φύλλα·fulla
a leaf
Read verseMark 13:28Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
φύλλα,fulla
a leaf
Read versefulla
a leaf
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 2 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 patterns2Aligned forms6Case patternAccusative (5)Number patternPlural (6)
Accusative · Plural · NeuterMatt 21:19 · Matt 24:32 · Mark 11:13 · Mark 13:285×
Word Origins
φύλλον 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.
For the Preacher and Teacher
A leaf can signal visible life without answering every question about fruit. Mark reports a leafy fig tree, says no fruit was found and specifically notes the season. The surrounding narrative moves through Jesus' action in the temple and His teaching about faith and forgiveness. That placement invites attention to the whole account rather than a moral verdict on an infertile body or an isolated claim about horticulture.
In the later discourse, tender branches and leaves indicate approaching summer, but Jesus' repeated call to watchfulness and His statement about the unknown day and hour restrain modern date calculations. Revelation's leaves belong to a river and tree of life proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb, with no curse remaining and God's servants seeing His face.
The healing of the nations announces hope within that vision. It should strengthen care and patient expectation without turning an ordinary leaf into a guaranteed treatment or assigning contemporary people roles the text leaves unnamed.
Anchor passage
Rev.22.2
Doctrinal connections
- Revelation locates the river of life at God's and the Lamb's throne.
- The tree-of-life leaves belong to the vision of healing for nations.
- The following vision announces the removal of the curse and God's presence.
- Mark's temple sequence includes prayer intended for all the nations.
- Jesus' fig-tree teaching is followed by instruction about faith and forgiveness.
- The watchfulness discourses retain the stated limit of the unknown day and hour.
All direct forms are neuter plural, with accusative forms in the fig-tree scenes and nominative plural in Revelation. Two repetitions in Mark 11:13 yield six tokens across five verses; case does not define a universal symbol.
From Old to New Testament
Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes water flowing from the temple, trees bearing fruit and leaves for healing. The shared restoration imagery can illuminate Revelation's river and tree while preserving each vision's setting and avoiding claims that an ordinary plant guarantees the promised restoration.