adverb
kakōs
Strong’sG2560
badly, evilly
stem kakō-16 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 booksnever changes form
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
Badly or ill — an adverb describing something done or suffered in a bad way, either physically or morally 24.
In its physical sense the word describes being sick or unwell, as in the common phrase "to be ill" used of the sick and diseased who are brought for healing 13. It can also describe someone destroyed or treated harshly, in the sense of being paid back as fittingly as their evil deserves 1.
In its moral sense the word means wrongly or evilly, describing speech or conduct that is bad in character, as in speaking evil of someone or a wrong-motived request 12.
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
κακῶς
(< κακός),
adv.,[in LXX: Wi 18:19, IV Mac 6:17, al.; κ. εἰπεῖν, ἐρεῖν (ארר, קלל pi.), Ex 22:28(27), Le 19:14, Is 8:21; κ. ἔχειν (חלה, Ez 34:4, al.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2560 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidkak-oce'
badly (physically or morally)
Fromfrom G2556;
King Jamesamiss, diseased, evil, grievously, miserably, sick, sore.
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
A bad:
A.I of persons,
A.I.1 of appearance, ugly, εἶδος μὲν ἔην κακός Refs 8th c.BC+
A.I.2 of birth, ill-born, mean, γένος ἐστὲ διοτρεφέων βασιλήων.., ἐπεὶ οὔ κε κακοὶ τοιούσδε τέκοιεν Refs 8th c.BC+
A.I.3 of courage, craven, base, Refs 8th c.BC+; Ἕκτωρ σε κ. καὶ ἀνάλκιδα φήσει Refs 8th c.BC+; οὐδαμῶν κακίονεςRefs 5th c.BC+
A.I.4 bad of his kind, i. e. worthless, sorry, unskilled, ἡνίοχοι Refs 8th c.BC+; [τοξότης] ἢ κ. ἢ ἀγαθόςRefs 8th c.BC+; κ. ἀλήτης a bad beggar,Refs 4th c.BC+; κυβερνήτης, ναύτης, Refs 5th c.BC+ I am not bad in all things, Refs 8th c.BC+: with infinitive, κ. μανθάνειν Refs; [νῆσος] φυτεύεσθαι κακή Refs; compare 11.
A.I.5 in moral sense, base, evil, Refs 8th c.BC+; opposed to Χρηστός, Refs 5th c.BC+
A.I.6 wretched, Refs 3rd c.BC+
A.II of things, evil, pernicious, frequently in Refs 8th c.BC+; Χόλος, ἔρις, Refs 8th c.BC+; πόλεμος, ἔπος, ἔργα, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἦμαρ, ἄνεμος, Refs 8th c.BC+; of omens and the like, unlucky, ὄρνις, ὄναρ, σῆμα, Refs 8th c.BC+; of words, abusive, foul, κ. λόγοι Refs 5th c.BC+; κ. ποιμήν, i.e. the storm, Refs 4th c.BC+: Astrology texts, unlucky, τόποι Refs 4th c.AD+; κ. τύχη, name for the sixth region, Refs 4th c.AD+
B κακόν, τό, and κακά, τά, as substantive, evil, ill, δίδου δ᾽ ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε Refs 8th c.BC+; so κ. ἄμαχον, ἄπρηκτα, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἔκπαγλον, ἄφερτον, ἀμήχανον, etc., Refs 5th c.BC+; κακὸν ἥκει τινί there's trouble in store for some one, Refs 5th c.BC+; δυοῖν ἀποκρίνας κακοῖν the least of two evils, Refs 5th c.BC+; κακῶν Ἰλιάς, see at {Ἰλιά; κακόν τι ῥέξαι τινά} to do harm or ill to any one, Refs 8th c.BC+; κακὰ φέρειν, τεύχειν τινί, Refs 8th c.BC+; κακόν τι (or κακὰ) ποιεῖν τινα (see. δράω, ποιέω, ἐργάζομαι); κακὸν πάσχειν ὑπό τινος to suffer evil from one, Refs 5th c.BC+
B.2 κακά, τά, evil words, reproaches, πολλά τε καὶ κακὰ λέγειν Refs 5th c.BC+
B.3 Philos., κακόν, τό, Evil, Refs 3rd c.AD+
B.4 of a person, pest, nuisance, τουτὶ παρέξει τὸ κ. ἡμῖν πράγματα Refs 5th c.BC+; also, comically, ὅσον συνείλεκται κακὸν ὀρνέων what a devil of a lot of birds, Refs
C degrees of Comparison:
C.1 regular comparative in Epic dialect, κακώτερος Refs 8th c.BC+: also in late Prose, Refs 4th c.AD+: irregular κακίων, ον [with ῐ], Refs 8th c.BC+, with ῑ in Trag., except Refs 5th c.BC+
C.2 superlative κάκιστος Refs 8th c.BC+
D adverb κακῶς ill, ἢ εὖ ἦε κακῶς Refs 8th c.BC+; κακῶς ποιεῖν τινα to treat one ill; κακῶς ποιεῖν τι to hurt, damage a thing; κακῶς ποιεῖν τινά τι to do one any evil or harm; κ. πράσσειν to fare ill, Refs 5th c.BC+; of illness, NT+4th c.BC+; Χρῆν Κανδαύλῃ γενέσθαι κ. Refs 5th c.BC+; with play on two senses, ὡς κ. ἔχει ἅπας ἰατρός, ἂν κ. μηδεὶς ἔχῃ Refs 3rd c.BC+; κ. ἐρεῖν τινά, λέγειν τὴν πόλιν, Refs 6th c.BC+; κ. εἰδότες, ={ἀγνοοῦντες}, Refs 5th c.BC+; κακῶς ἐκπέφευγα I have barely escaped, Refs 4th c.BC+: comparative κάκιον Refs 5th c.BC+: superlative κάκιστα Refs 5th c.BC+
D.2 adverb and adjective frequently coupled in Trag., Attic dialect, etc., κακὸν κακῶς νιν.. ἐκτρῖψαι βίον NT+5th c.BC+; in reversed order, ὥσπερ ἀξία κακῶς κακὴ θανεῖται Refs 5th c.BC+; with intervening words, κακῶς.. ἀπόλλυσθαι κακούς Refs 5th c.BC+. (Perh. cognate with Avest. kasu-, comparative kasyah-, superlative kasišta- 'small', Lithuanian nukašëti 'grow feeble, thin', Refs 1st c.BC+ hager.)
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.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
16 occurrences, every one of them listed
kakōs16×
Matthew 4:24“… illness”… Surian; kai prosferala auto pantoin toin kakōs echarōntoin poikilai nosai kai basanai sunechorōntoin, …News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed …
Matthew 8:16“illness”… teim pneumeim logo, kai pantoin toin kakōs echarōntoin therapeuata;… drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
Matthew 9:12… echalō tois ischuarōntois iatrou alla tois kakōs echarōntois.… who need a doctor, but the sick.
Matthew 14:35“illness”… ekeinan, kai prosferala auto pantoin toin kakōs echarōntoin,… region. People brought all the sick to Him
Matthew 15:22“severely”… kurior huios David; tas thugatras mu kakōs daimonizotō.… crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably …
Matthew 17:15… mu ton huion, hoti selēniazotō kai kakōs paschatō, pollakis gar piptatō eis tem …… He has seizures and is suffering terribly. He often falls into the fire …
Matthew 21:41“completely”legalō auto; Kakosoin kakōs apolati autoin, kai ton ampelōnon ekdōeti …… will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other …
Mark 1:32“illness”… hēlios, ferale pros auton pantoin toin kakōs echarōntoin kai toin daimonizorōntoin;… sunset, people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed,
Mark 1:34“… illness”kai therapeuata polloin kakōs echarōntoin poikilai nosai, kai daimoneim polleim …And He healed many who were ill with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He …
Mark 2:17“… illness.”… echalō tois ischuarōntois iatrou alla tois kakōs echarōntois; ouk erchama kalara dikaioin alla …… a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 6:55“illness”… kai archela epi toi krabattoi toin kakōs echarōntoin periferarō hopou akouale hoti atō.and ran through that whole region, carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.
Luke 5:31… echalō tois hugiainarōntois iatrou alla tois kakōs echarōntois;… who need a doctor, but the sick.
Luke 7:2“having an illness”Hekatontarchēou de tinou doulos kakōs echarōntos mellate teleutarō, hos ate auto …… highly valued servant of a centurion was sick and about to die.
John 18:23“wrongly”apokrinita auto Iēsus; Ei kakōs lalama, marturasar peri teu kakoseu; ei …Jesus replied, “If I said something wrong, testify as to what was wrong. But if I spoke …
Acts 23:5… Archonton tou laou su ouk legasi kakōs.… it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”
James 4:3aitavō kai ouk labavō, dioti kakōs aitovō, hina en tai hēdonai vu …… not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it …