adjective
kreittonos
Strong’sG2909
stronger, more excellent
stem kreitton-19 times in the New Testamentin 5 of 27 books0 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
Stronger, mightier, is the basic sense of this word, describing greater strength or power 23.
The word is also used to mean better, more excellent, that is, nobler or superior in quality or worth 234.
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:
Strong’s G2909 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidkrite'-tohn
stronger, i.e. (figuratively) better, i.e. nobler
Fromcomparative of a derivative of G2904;
King Jamesbest, better.
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
genitive ονος, as always in Epic dialect and old Attic dialect; later Attic dialect κρείττων; Ionic dialect κρέσσων Refs 5th c.BC+ κάρρων (which see); Cretan dialect κάρτων Refs — _comparative_ of κρατύς (see. κράτιστος), stronger, mightier, Refs 8th c.BC+; especially in battle, Refs 6th c.BC+: hence, having the upper hand, superior, Refs 8th c.BC+: as Law-term, of witnesses, Refs [prev. cited]
2 frequently as comparative of ἀγαθός, better, κρέσσονες one's betters, especially in point of rank, Refs 5th c.BC+, of the greater gods, as opposed to to Oceanus, Refs 4th c.BC+ (anapaest meter); οἱ κ. the Higher Powers, Refs 5th c.BC+ the Almighty, Providence, Refs 4th c.AD+ one's advantages, Refs 5th c.BC+.
3 with infinitive, οὔ τις ἐμεῖο κρείσσων.. δόμεναι no one has a better right to.., Refs 8th c.BC+; κρεῖσσόν ἐστι with infinitive, 'tis better to.., Refs 5th c.BC+ with participle, κ. γὰρ ἦσθα μηκέτ᾽ ὢν ἢ ζῶν τυφλός thou wert better not alive, than living blind, Refs 5th c.BC+
II with genitive or ἤ, too great for, surpassing, beyond, Refs 5th c.BC+; of evil deeds, κρείσσον᾽ ἀγχόνης too bad for hanging, Refs 5th c.BC+ too bad to look on, Refs 5th c.BC+; λέγετι σιγῆς κρεῖσσον Refs 5th c.BC+; κ. ἢ λόγοισιν (i.e. εἰπεῖν) Refs; πρᾶγμα ἐλπίδος κ. γεγενημένον worse than one expected, Refs 6th c.BC+.
III having control over, master of, especially of desires and passions, Refs 6th c.BC+; γαστρὸς καὶ κερδέων Refs over themselves, Refs 5th c.BC+ superior to the influence of money, Refs 6th c.BC+; also, putting oneself above, Refs 5th c.BC+; κρείσσους ὄντες.. τῷ λογισμῷ ἐς τὸ ἀνέλπιστον τοῦ βεβαίου having reasoned themselves into an absolute belief of the hopelessness of certainty, Refs 4th c.BC+
IV better, more excellent, Refs 1st c.AD+; ὁ κρείττων λόγος (opposed to ὁ ἥσσων) Refs 5th c.BC+ in a higher sense, opposed to κατὰ τὸ χεῖρον, Refs 5th c.AD+
V adverb Refs 5th c.BC+ probably took ει from ὀλείζων.)
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 | kreittonos | kreittonas | kreittonem | kreittonois | kreittonais | kreittoneim |
| object accusative | kreittonon | kreittonan | kreittonoin | kreittonain | ||
| direct address vocative | kreittonor | kreittonar | kreittonoir | kreittonair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | kreittonou | kreittonau | kreittoneu | kreittonoiu | kreittonaiu | kreittoneiu |
| to, for dative | kreittono | kreittona | kreittone | kreittonoi | kreittonai | kreittonei |
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
kreitton 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.
19 occurrences, every one of them listed
kreittonem8×
1 Corinthians 7:9ei de ouk enkrateuolō, gamalar, kreittonem gar atō gamara ē purorō.… let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with …
Philippians 1:23… sun Christo arō, polle gar mallon kreittonem,… be with Christ, which is far better indeed.
1 Peter 3:17kreittonem gar agathopoiarōntoin, ei thelatoiō tem thelēmem …For it is better, if it is God’s will, to …
2 Peter 2:21kreittonem gar ate autoi mē epignōskarē tan …It would have been better for them not to have known …
1 Corinthians 7:38… kalōs poiatō, kai tos mē gamizarōntos kreittonem poiati.… does not marry her does even better.
1 Corinthians 11:17“better”… ouk epainamō hoti ouk eis tem kreittonem alla eis tem hēssōnem sunerchovō.In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings …
Hebrews 11:40tou theou peri nu kreittonem tinem probleperantou, hina mē chōris nu …God had planned something better for us, so that together with …
Hebrews 12:24… neau mesito Iēso, kai haime rantismou kreittonem lalarōnto para ton Habel.… the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
kreittonau5×
Hebrews 7:19… gar teleiata tos nomos, epeisagōgas de kreittonau elpidau, dia hau engizanō to theo.… law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we …
Hebrews 7:22kata tosoutem kreittonau diathēkau genatē enguos Iēsus.… has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Hebrews 8:6… de diaforoterau tuchatē leitourgiau, hose kai kreittonau atō diathēkau mesitos, hotinas epi kreittonai …… as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
Hebrews 11:16nun de kreittonau oregolō, houtem atō epouranau. dio ouk …Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God …
Hebrews 11:35… tumpanizila, ouk prosdecherantois tan apolutrōsian, hina kreittonau anastasiau tuchaleia;… so that they might gain a better resurrection.
kreittonai2×
Hebrews 8:6… kreittonau atō diathēkau mesitos, hotinas epi kreittonai epangeliai nomothetotē.… is better and is founded on better promises.
Hebrews 9:23… houtei katharizorō, auteim de teim epouraneim kreittonai thusiai para houtain.… but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
kreittonos1×
Hebrews 1:4“better”tosoute kreittonos generantos toiu angeloiu hose diaforoterem para …… superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs.
kreittoneim1×
Hebrews 6:9Peithonē de peri vu, agapētoir, teim kreittoneim kai echorōnteim sōtērēau, ei kai houtōs …… this, beloved, we are convinced of better things in your case— things that …
kreittonou1×
Hebrews 7:7“superior”… pantau antilogiau tem elassōnem hupo tou kreittonou eulogotō.And indisputably, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
kreittonan1×
Hebrews 10:34… meta charau prosdecheva, gnōskarōntois echarō heautoin kreittonan huparxian kai menarōntan.… knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.