verb
pseudomō
Strong’sG5574
I speak falsely, lie
stem pseud-12 times in the New Testamentin 11 of 27 books7 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
To lie or to speak falsely, whether by stating an untruth or by attempting to deceive through falsehood 2. The word is used in the middle voice 2, and is glossed simply as "I lie" 4.
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
ψεύδομαι, v.s. ψεύδω.
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5574 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpsyoo'-dom-ahee
to utter an untruth or attempt to deceive by falsehood
Frommiddle voice of an apparently primary verb;
King Jamesfalsely, lie.
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
see at {ψεύδω} Refs 5th c.BC+
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
What the New Testament actually uses, first — the whole system this verb is built from is one click further down.
| Form and the Greek behind it | What it is | Usually | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| pseudomōψεύδομαι | happening now · Ipresent middle or passive indicative 1st person singular | lying | 4× |
| pseudonōψευδόμεθα | happening now · wepresent middle or passive indicative 1st person plural | lie | 1× |
| pseudolōψεύδονται | happening now · theypresent middle or passive indicative 3rd person plural | lying | 1× |
| pseudesaἐψεύσω | happened · youaorist middle indicative 2nd person singular | lied | 1× |
| pseudovōrψεύδεσθε | happening now · yepresent middle or passive imperative 2nd person plural | lie | 2× |
| pseuderaψεύσασθαί | happened · the “to …” formaorist middle infinitive | lie | 2× |
| pseudorōntoisψευδόμενοι | happening now · subjectpresent middle or passive participle nominative plural masculine | falsely | 1× |
Every form the New Testament uses, in paradigm order. What the system can build beyond them — the whole of this verb, whether the text happens to use it or not — is in the tables below.
Every form the system can build — all 86, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 7 occurrences
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudomō4×ψεύδομαι | pseudome | pseudomē | pseudomelē |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudosō | pseudose | pseudosē | pseudoselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudotō | pseudote | pseudotē | pseudotelē |
| we 1st person plural | pseudonō1×ψευδόμεθα | pseudone | pseudonē | pseudonelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudovō | pseudove | pseudovē | pseudovelē |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudolō1×ψεύδονται | pseudole | pseudolē | pseudolelē |
acts on or for itself middle voice
| Who person | will happen future | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudemi | pseudema |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudesi | pseudesa1×ἐψεύσω |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudeti | pseudeta |
| we 1st person plural | pseudeni | pseudena |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudevi | pseudeva |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudeli | pseudela |
May, might — subjunctive mood, no occurrences
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudomeiō | pseudomeiē |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudoseiō | pseudoseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudoteiō | pseudoteiē |
| we 1st person plural | pseudoneiō | pseudoneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudoveiō | pseudoveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudoleiō | pseudoleiē |
acts on or for itself middle voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudemeia |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudeseia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudeteia |
| we 1st person plural | pseudeneia |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudeveia |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudeleia |
Commands — imperative mood, 2 occurrences
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | pseudosōr | pseudosēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudotōr | pseudotēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudovōr2×ψεύδεσθε | pseudovēr |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudolōr | pseudolēr |
acts on or for itself middle voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | pseudesar |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudetar |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudevar |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudelar |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudomoiō |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudosoiō |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudotoiō |
| we 1st person plural | pseudonoiō |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudovoiō |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudoloiō |
acts on or for itself middle voice
| Who person | happened aorist |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | pseudemoia |
| you 2nd person singular | pseudesoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | pseudetoia |
| we 1st person plural | pseudenoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | pseudevoia |
| they 3rd person plural | pseudeloia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, 2 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | pseudorō | pseudorē | ||
| acts on or for itself middle voice | pseuderi | pseudera2×ψεύσασθαί |
Used as an adjective — participle, 1 occurrence
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | pseudorōntos1× | pseudorēntos | ||
| acts on or for itself middle voice | pseuderintos | pseuderantos |
Each is given in the form it takes as a subject. From there a participle carries the ordinary noun endings, in every case, number and gender — so these four columns are the whole of what the verb contributes.
How every form is built — the slots that make them
pseud 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
pseudomō“lying”happening now · Ipresent middle or passive indicative 1st person singular4×
Romans 9:1Alētheian legamō en Christo, ouk pseudomō, summarturarōntau mi tau suneidēsiau mu en …… truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in …
2 Corinthians 11:31… eulogētos eis toin aiōnoin, hoti ouk pseudomō.… praise, knows that I am not lying.
Galatians 1:20… idou enōpion tou theou hoti ouk pseudomō.… am writing to you is no lie.
1 Timothy 2:7… kērukos kai apostolos alētheian legamō, ouk pseudomō didaskalos ethneiu en pistia kai alētheia.… telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.
pseudonō“lie”happening now · wepresent middle or passive indicative 1st person plural1×
1 John 1:6… autou kai en te skote peripataneiō, pseudonō kai ouk poianō tan alētheian;… yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
pseudolō“lying”happening now · theypresent middle or passive indicative 3rd person plural1×
Revelation 3:9“lying”… Ioudaioin arō, kai ouk alō alla pseudolō idou poiami autoin hina hēkali kai …… to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will …
pseudesa“lied”happened · youaorist middle indicative 2nd person singular1×
Acts 5:4… kardia su tem pragmem houtem? ouk pseudesa anthrōpoi alla to theo.… in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”
pseudovōr“lie”happening now · yepresent middle or passive imperative 2nd person plural2×
Colossians 3:9mē pseudovōr eis allēloin; apekduerantois ton palaion anthrōpon …Do not lie to one another, since you have …
James 3:14“lie”… ta kardia vu, mē katakauchovōr kai pseudovōr kata tau alētheiau.… ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
pseudera“lie”happened · the “to …” formaorist middle infinitive2×
Acts 5:3… plērata tos Satanos tan kardian su, pseudera sin tem pneumem tem hagiem kai …… Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold …
Hebrews 6:18… duo pragmeiu ametatheteiu, en hei adunatem pseudera theon, ischuran paraklēsian echaneiō tois katafugarantois …… it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take …
pseudorōntois“falsely”happening now · subjectpresent middle or passive participle nominative plural masculine1×
Matthew 5:11… kai legaleia pantem ponērem kata vu pseudorōntois heneken mu.… people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against …