What does ψυχικός (psychikós) mean in the Bible?
ψυχικός (psychikós): Describes humanity operating from soulish nature alone, opposed to Spirit-empowered spiritual maturity.
Greek · G5591
ψυχικός
Natural
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ψυχικός G5591
Pronunciation psychikós
What does ψυχικός (psychikós) mean in the Bible?
ψυχικός (psychikós): Describes humanity operating from soulish nature alone, opposed to Spirit-empowered spiritual maturity.
Full entry for ψυχικός (G5591) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G5591?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a natural (2), [The] natural (1), [who are] worldly (1), natural (1), unspiritual (1).
Where does ψυχικός (psychikós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Corinthians 2:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (4), James (1), Jude (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 a natural 2× 1 Corinthians 15:44
[The] natural 1× 1 Corinthians 2:14
[who are] worldly 1× Jude 1:19
natural 1× 1 Corinthians 15:46
unspiritual 1× James 3:15
Show sample aligned rows
1 Corinthians 2:14 Ψυχικὸς to [The] natural Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1 Corinthians 15:44 ψυχικόν to a natural Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 1 Corinthians 15:44 ψυχικόν to a natural Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 1 Corinthians 15:46 ψυχικόν to natural Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular James 3:15 ψυχική to unspiritual Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular Jude 1:19 ψυχικοί to [who are] worldly Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row 1 Corinthians 2:14
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 3
1 Corinthians 4 James 1 Jude 1
Source forms
ψυχικόν 3x psychikon 1 Corinthians 15:44, 1 Corinthians 15:46
ψυχική 1x psychikē James 3:15
ψυχικοί 1x psychikoi Jude 1:19
Ψυχικὸς 1x Psychikos 1 Corinthians 2:14
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular 3x 1 Corinthians 15:44, 1 Corinthians 15:46
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x James 3:15
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Jude 1:19
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x 1 Corinthians 2:14
Greek word. Describes humanity operating from soulish nature alone, opposed to Spirit-empowered spiritual maturity.
Strong's G5591
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 4 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Jude 1:17–19 Source Gloss
natural
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Describes humanity operating from soulish nature alone, opposed to Spirit-empowered spiritual maturity.
(ψυχή) [in LXX: 4Ma.1:32 * ;] of the ψυχή (as the lower part of the immaterial in man), EV, natural: opposite to πνευματικός, 1Co.2:14 15:44 15:46; πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες (EV, sensual; R, mg., natural or animal; better perhaps, of the mind; see infr.), Ju 19; with ἐπίγειος, δαιμονιώδης, opposite to ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη (σοψία), of the mind (Hort, in l), Jas.3:15
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
1 Corinthians 2:14 Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
ψυχικὸς yucikov
animal, natural, sensuous
Read verse 1 Corinthians 15:44 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
ψυχικόν, yucikon
animal, natural, sensuous
Read verse 1 Corinthians 15:44 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
ψυχικόν, yucikon
animal, natural, sensuous
Read verse 1 Corinthians 15:46 Adjective Nominative Singular Neuter
ψυχικόν, yucikon
animal, natural, sensuous
Read verse James 3:15 Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
ψυχική, yucikh
animal, natural, sensuous
Read verse Jude 1:19 Adjective Nominative Plural Masculine
ψυχικοί, yucikoi
animal, natural, sensuous
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 4 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 4 Aligned forms 6 Case pattern Nominative (6) Number pattern Singular (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Neuter 1 Cor 15:44 · 1 Cor 15:46 3×
Nominative · Singular · Masculine 1 Cor 2:14 1×
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Jas 3:15 1×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Jude 1:19 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
natural, unspiritual
Showing 1 selected witness from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ψυχικός is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Indicates absence of the Holy Spirit’s transforming presence. Jude 1:17–19
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