noun · masculine
pulōnos
Strong’sG4440
a large gate, a gateway, porch
stem pulōn-18 times in the New Testamentin 4 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
πυλών refers to an entrance structure, and covers two related but distinct senses.
It can mean the porch or vestibule at the entrance of a house or palace 124, the space just inside the way in where a person might wait or be received.
It can also mean the gateway or gate-tower of a walled town 1234, or of a building such as a temple 3. In this sense it denotes a substantial structure at the entrance — sometimes built apart from the building or wall it serves, functioning as its own gate-house 3, with a door of its own 3.
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
πυλών, -ῶνος, ὁ
(< πύλη), [in LXX chiefly for פֶּתַח, שַׁעַר;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4440 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpoo-lone'
a gate-way, door-way of a building or city; by implication, a portal or vestibule
Fromfrom G4439;
King Jamesgate, porch.
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
gateway, Refs 4th c.BC+; frequently separated from the house or temple to which it gave entrance, gate-tower, gate-house, Refs 3rd c.BC+; of a temple, Refs 1st c.AD+; τετράθυρος π. Refs 3rd c.BC+; ἡ θύρα τοῦ π. NT
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 | pulōnos | pulōnois6×πυλῶνες |
| object accusative | pulōnon4×πυλῶνα | pulōnoin3×πυλῶνας |
| direct address vocative | pulōnor | pulōnoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | pulōnou2×πυλῶνος | pulōnoiu1×πυλώνων |
| to, for dative | pulōno | pulōnoi2×πυλῶσιν |
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
pulōno 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.
18 occurrences, every one of them listed
pulōnon“gate”objectaccusative singular4×
Matthew 26:71exercharanton de eis ton pulōnon horata auton allosas kai legatō toi …… Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and …
Luke 16:20… tinos onome Lazaros balotelē pros ton pulōnon autou helkorēntos… beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
Acts 10:17… oikian tou Simōnou epistēala epi ton pulōnon,… found Simon’s house and approached the gate.
Acts 12:14… apo tau charau ouk anoigata ton pulōnon, eistrecharantas de apangelata stēarē ton Petron …… that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter …
pulōnou“gate”of, belonging togenitive singular2×
Acts 12:13krouarantou de autou tan thuran tou pulōnou proserchata paidiskas hupakouara onome Rodas,He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda …
Acts 12:14… apangelata stēarē ton Petron pro tou pulōnou.… announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”
pulōnois“gates”subjectnominative plural6×
Revelation 21:13apo anatolau pulōnois treis, kai apo borrou pulōnois treis, …There were three gates on the east, three on the …
Revelation 21:13“gates”… anatolau pulōnois treis, kai apo borrou pulōnois treis, kai apo notou pulōnois treis, …… were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the …
Revelation 21:13“gates”… borrou pulōnois treis, kai apo notou pulōnois treis, kai apo dusmaiu pulōnois treis;There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
Revelation 21:13“gates”… notou pulōnois treis, kai apo dusmaiu pulōnois treis;There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
Revelation 21:21kai tois dōdeka pulōnois dōdeka margaritois, ana henos hekastos toiu …And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate …
Revelation 21:25kai tois pulōnois autau ouk mē kleiileia hēmerau, nuktas …Its gates will never be shut at the …
pulōnoin“gates”objectaccusative plural3×
Acts 14:13… polau tauroin kai stemmeim epi toin pulōnoin ferarantos sun toi ochloi thelate thuarō.… bulls and wreaths to the city gates, hoping to offer a sacrifice along …
Revelation 21:12echarōntas teichem megem kai hupsēlem, echarōntas pulōnoin dōdeka, kai epi toi pulōnoi angeloin …… great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the …
Revelation 21:15… hina metrateia tan polan kai toin pulōnoin autau kai tem teichem autau.… to measure the city and its gates and walls.
pulōnoiu“gates”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Revelation 21:21“gates”… dōdeka margaritois, ana henos hekastos toiu pulōnoiu ate ek henou margaritou; kai tas …… gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold …
pulōnoi“gates”to, fordative plural2×
Revelation 21:12… echarōntas pulōnoin dōdeka, kai epi toi pulōnoi angeloin dōdeka, kai onomeim epigraforēnteim heim …… Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.
Revelation 22:14… tem xulem tau zōau kai toi pulōnoi eiserchaleia eis tan polan.… may enter the city by its gates.