noun · feminine
pornas
Strong’sG4204
a prostitute
stem porn-12 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books6 of 10 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
πόρνη means a prostitute or harlot, a woman who sells herself sexually 1234.
The word is also used figuratively, of an idolater 2, and in Revelation as a symbolic name for Babylon, understood as Rome 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
πόρνη, -ης, ἡ,
[in LXX chiefly for זוֹנָה;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4204 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpor'-nay
a strumpet; figuratively, an idolater
Fromfeminine of G4205;
King Jamesharlot, whore.
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
harlot, prostitute, Refs 7th c.BC+ because Greek prostitutes were commonly bought slaves.)
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 | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | pornas3×πόρνη | pornais2×πόρναι |
| object accusative | pornan2×πόρνην | pornain |
| direct address vocative | pornar | pornair |
| of, belonging to genitive | pornau2×πόρνης | pornaiu2×πορνῶν |
| to, for dative | porna1×πόρνῃ | pornai |
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
porna 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
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
pornas“prostitute”subjectnominative singular3×
Hebrews 11:31pistia Raab tas pornas ouk sunapoleta toi apeitharantoi, decherantas toin …By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies …
James 2:25homoiōs de kai Raab tas pornas ouk ek ergeiu dikaiita, hupodecherantas toin …… way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she …
Revelation 17:15… Teim hudeim heim horasa, hou tas pornas kathotō, laois kai ochlois alō kai …… The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes …
pornan“prostitute”objectaccusative singular2×
Revelation 17:16… kai tem thērem, houtois misali tan pornan, kai erēmorēntan poiali autan kai gumnan, …… that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and …
Revelation 19:2… tais krisiais autou; hoti krinata tan pornan tan megan hotinas ftherate tan gēan …… just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her …
pornau“prostitute”of, belonging togenitive singular2×
1 Corinthians 6:15… oun teim meleim tou Christou poiameia pornau meleim? mē genetoia.… Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Revelation 17:1… Deuro, deikami si tem krimem tau pornau tau megau tau kathorōntau epi hudeiu …… you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
porna“prostitute”to, fordative singular1×
1 Corinthians 6:16… ouk oidavē hoti tos kollorōntos ta porna henem sōmem atō? Eli gar, fēatō, …… he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body …
pornais“prostitutes”subjectnominative plural2×
Matthew 21:31… vi hoti tois telōnois kai tais pornais proagalō vin eis tan basileian tou …… tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God …
Matthew 21:32… auto; tois de telōnois kai tais pornais pisteuala auto; vis de horarantois oude …… him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw …
pornaiu“prostitutes”of, belonging togenitive plural2×
Luke 15:30… tos katesthiarantos su ton bion meta pornaiu erchata, thuasa auto ton siteuton moschon.… returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for …
Revelation 17:5… Babulōnas tas megas, tas mētēras taiu pornaiu kai teiu bdelugmeiu tau gēau.… BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE …