noun
parthenos
Strong’sG3933
a virgin
stem parthen-15 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books7 of 20 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
A virgin — a young woman who has not had sexual relations, a maiden 1234. Strong's notes that by implication the word can also denote an unmarried daughter 2.
The word is also used, in the masculine, of an unmarried man, applied to chaste persons 13.
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
παρθένος, -ου, ἡ,
[in LXX chiefly for בְּתוּלָה, Ex 22:16 (15), Jb 31:1, Is 23:4, al.; also for נַעַר, נַעֲרָה, Ge 24:14, 16, 55 34:3, and for עַלְמָה, Ge 24:43, Is 7:14;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3933 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpar-then'-os
a maiden; by implication, an unmarried daughter
Fromof unknown origin;
King Jamesvirgin.
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
Laconian dialect παρσένος Refs 5th c.BC+. ἡ, maiden, girl, Refs 8th c.BC+; αἱ ἄθλιαι π. ἐμαί my unhappy girls, Refs 8th c.BC+; π. κόρα, of the Sphinx, uncertain in Refs 5th c.BC+; θυγάτηρ π. Refs 5th c.BC+; of Persephone, Refs 5th c.BC+; virgin, opposed to γυνή, Refs 3rd c.BC+
2 of unmarried women who are not virgins, Refs 8th c.BC+
3 Παρθένος, ἡ, the Virgin Goddess, as a title of Athena at Athens, Refs 2nd c.AD+ (hence of an Attic dialect coin bearing her head, Refs 5th c.BC+; of Artemis, Refs 5th c.BC+; of the Tauric Iphigenia, Refs 5th c.BC+; of an unnamed goddess, Refs 5th c.BC+; αἱ ἱεραὶ π., of the Vestal Virgins, Refs 1st c.BC+; αἱ Ἑστιάδες π. Refs; simply, αἱ π. Refs 1st c.BC+
4 the constellation Refs 4th c.BC+
5 ={κόρη} Refspupil, Refs 2nd c.AD+
II as adjective, maiden, chaste, παρθένον ψυχὴν ἔχων Refs 5th c.BC+; μίτρη π. Refs 4th c.BC+
III as masculine, παρθένος, ὁ, unmarried man, NT
IV π. γῆ Samian earth 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 | feminine singular | masculine singular | feminine plural | masculine plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | parthenas3×παρθένος | parthenos | parthenais3×παρθένοι | parthenois1×παρθένοι |
| object accusative | parthenan5×παρθένον | parthenon | parthenain | parthenoin |
| direct address vocative | parthenar | parthenor | parthenair | parthenoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | parthenau1×παρθένου | parthenou | parthenaiu1×παρθένων | parthenoiu |
| to, for dative | parthena | partheno | parthenai1×παρθένοις | parthenoi |
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
parthen 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.
15 occurrences, every one of them listed
parthenas“virgin”subjectnominative singular3×
Matthew 1:23Idou tas parthenas en gastra echati kai tikteti huion, …“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will …
1 Corinthians 7:28… ouk hamartasa. kai ean gamateia tas parthenas, ouk hamartata. thlipsian de ta sarka …… have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But …
1 Corinthians 7:34… tas gunaikas tas agamas kai tas parthenas merimnatō teim tou kuriou, hina ateiō …… are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of …
parthenan“virgin”objectaccusative singular5×
Luke 1:27pros parthenan mnēsteuorēntan andro ho onomem Iōsēf ek …to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man …
1 Corinthians 7:36“virgin”Ei de tinos aschēmonarō epi tan parthenan autou nomizatō ean ateiō huperakmas, kai …However, if someone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his betrothed, and if she is beyond her youth and they ought …
1 Corinthians 7:37… ta idia kardia, tērarō tan heautou parthenan, kalōs poiati;… his heart not to marry the virgin, he will do well.
1 Corinthians 7:38hōste kai tos gamizarōntos tan parthenan heautou kalōs poiatō, kai tos mē …So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does …
2 Corinthians 11:2… zēlo, harmozema gar vin heno andro parthenan hagnan parastēara to Christo;… to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
parthenau“virgin’s”of, belonging togenitive singular1×
Luke 1:27… oikou David, kai tem onomem tau parthenau Mariam.… the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
parthenais“virgins”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 25:7tote egerila pantais tais parthenais ekeinais kai kosmala tain lampadain heautaiu.Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.
Matthew 25:11husterem de ercholō kai tais loipais parthenais legarōntais; Kurior kurior, anoigasar ni;Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open …
Acts 21:9“virgin”houto de ale thugatrais tessares parthenais profēteuarōntais.He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
parthenaiu“virgins”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
1 Corinthians 7:25Peri de taiu parthenaiu epitagan kuriou ouk echamō, gnōman de …Now about virgins, I have no command from the …
parthenai“virgins”to, fordative plural1×
Matthew 25:1… homoiiti tas basileias toiu ouranoiu deka parthenai, hotinais labarantais tain lampadain heautaiu exerchala …… of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went …
parthenois“virgins”subjectnominative plural1×
Revelation 14:4… alō hois meta gunaikaiu ouk molunila, parthenois gar alō; houtois tois akoloutharōntois te …… defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He …