adjective
archaios
Strong’sG744
original, primitive, ancient
stem archai-11 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books7 of 26 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Ἀρχαῖος means original, ancient, belonging to the beginning – describing something that has existed since an early time or from its very origin 1234. It is used of periods of time long past, of things that have existed since ancient times, and of people who were there from the earliest point (such as "the ancients" or an original follower) 13. The word is distinguished from the ordinary word for "old" (παλαιός) in that it carries this specific sense of dating back to a beginning or origin, standing in contrast to what is "new" (καινός), whereas the other word for "old" contrasts with "young" (νέος) 1.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
ἀρχαῖος, -αία, -αῖον
(< ἀρχή), [in LXX chiefly for קֶדֶם;]
SYN.: παλαιός, old, without the reference to beginning and origin contained in ἀ. The distinction is observed in π. (MM, s.v.). ἀ. is the antithesis to καινός: παλ. to νέος (v. Westc., He., 223; Cremer, 116).
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G744 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidar-khah'-yos
original or primeval
Fromfrom G746;
King James(them of) old (time).
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
(ἀρχή I) from the beginning or origin:
I mostly of things, ancient, σκότοςRefs 5th c.BC+; χερὸς σῆς πίστιν ἀρχαίαν faith firm for ever, Refs
I.2 old-fashioned, antiquated, Refs 5th c.BC+; of literary style, Refs 4th c.BC+
I.2.b simple, silly, Refs 5th c.BC+
I.3 ancient, former, τὸ ἀ. ῥέεθονRefs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἀ., opposed to οἱ ὕστερον, Refs 5th c.BC+
I.4 old, worn out, ὑποδήματαRefs 5th c.BC+
II of persons, Θέμιν.. ἀρχαίαν ἄλοχον ΔιόςRefs 5th c.BC+; ἀ. θεαί, of the Erinyes, Refs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἀ. the Ancients, name given by Refs 4th c.BC+ to the pre-Socratics, Refs; in Lit. Crit., ancient, classical writers, Refs 4th c.BC+, the philosophers down to Aristotle, Refs; in NT, the Fathers, NT
II.2 ancient, old, βαλὴν ἀ., of Darius, Refs 5th c.BC+; οἱ ἀ. κύριοι the original owners, Refs 2nd c.BC+; τὰς ἀ. πόλεις (banished from) their original cities, Refs W.; ἀ. μαθητής an original disciple, NT παιδαγωγὸς ἀ., i.e of old, formerly, Refs 5th c.BC+
III neuter as adverb, τὸ ἀρχαῖον, Ionic dialect contraction τὠρχαῖον, anciently, Refs 5th c.BC+, Attic dialect τἀρχαῖονRefs 5th c.BC+
III.2 regular adverb ἀρχαίως in olden style, καινὰ ἀ. λέγεινRefs 5th c.BC+
IV irregular comparative ἀρχαιέστεροςRefs 5th c.BC+; usual comparative -ότεροςRefs 5th c.BC+: superlative -ότατοςRefs 5th c.BC+
V as substantive, τὸ ἀρχαῖον, of money, prime cost, πλέον τοῦ ἀ.Refs 5th c.BC+; principal, mostly in plural, Refs 5th c.BC+; τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀπέστησαν lost their capital, Refs; opposed to πρόσοδοι, Refs 4th c.BC+
V.2 ἀρχαίη, ἡ, ={ἀρχή}, Refs
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | masculine singular | feminine singular | neuter singular | masculine plural | feminine plural | neuter plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | archaios2×ἀρχαῖος | archaias | archaiem | archaiois | archaiais | archaieim1×ἀρχαῖα |
| object accusative | archaion | archaian | archaioin | archaiain | ||
| direct address vocative | archaior | archaiar | archaioir | archaiair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | archaiou1×ἀρχαίου | archaiau | archaieu | archaioiu2×ἀρχαίων | archaiaiu2×ἀρχαίων | archaieiu |
| to, for dative | archaio1×ἀρχαίῳ | archaia | archaie | archaioi2×ἀρχαίοις | archaiai | archaiei |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
archai is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
11 occurrences, every one of them listed
archaios“ancient”subjectnominative singular2×
Revelation 12:9… drakontos tos megos, tos ofios tos archaios, tos kalorōntos Diabolos kai tos Satanos, …… great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan …
Revelation 20:2… kratata ton drakonton, tos ofios tos archaios, hos atō Diabolos kai tos Satanos, …He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and …
archaiou“ancient”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
2 Peter 2:5kai archaiou kosmou ouk feideta, alla ogdoon Nōe …if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood …
archaio“early”to, fordative singular1×
Acts 21:16… para ho xenizineia Mnasōno tino Kuprio, archaio mathēto.… home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple.
archaioiu“ancient”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Luke 9:8“ancient”… allosoiu de hoti profētos tinos toiu archaioiu anastēata.… had appeared, and still others that a prophet …
Luke 9:19“ancient”… allosois de hoti profētos tinos toiu archaioiu anastēata.… say Elijah; and still others, that a prophet …
archaioi“ancient times”to, fordative plural2×
Matthew 5:21“ancient times”Akouava hoti legita toi archaioi; Ouk foneuasi; hos de an foneuateia, …You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be …
Matthew 5:33“ancient times”Palin akouava hoti legita toi archaioi; Ouk epiorkasi, apodōasi de to kurio …Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
archaiaiu“early”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Acts 15:7… adelfoir, vis epistovō hoti apo hēmeraiu archaiaiu en vi eklegeta tos theos dia …… Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among …
Acts 15:21Mōusos gar ek geneaiu archaiaiu kata polan toin kērussarōntoin auton echatō …… been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the …
archaieim“old”subject or objectdirect plural1×
2 Corinthians 5:17… tinos en Christo, kainas ktisias; teim archaieim parerchata, idou genatē kaineim;… he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new …