adjective
rōmaios
Strong’sG4514
Roman, a Roman citizen
stem rōmai-12 times in the New Testamentin 2 of 27 books6 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
Roman — a person belonging to or a citizen of Rome 1234. The word functions as both an adjective and a noun, describing someone as Roman or "of Rome" 2, and can specifically denote a Roman citizen 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
Strong’s G4514 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidhro-mah'-yos
Romæan, i.e. Roman (as noun)
Fromfrom G4516;
King JamesRoman, of Rome.
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
a Roman, Refs 2nd c.BC+; τὰ Ῥωμαῖα ludi Romani, Refs 2nd c.AD+
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 | rōmaios4×Ῥωμαῖός | rōmaias | rōmaiem | rōmaiois3×Ῥωμαῖοι | rōmaiais | rōmaieim |
| object accusative | rōmaion1×Ῥωμαῖον | rōmaian | rōmaioin1×Ῥωμαίους | rōmaiain | ||
| direct address vocative | rōmaior | rōmaiar | rōmaioir | rōmaiair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | rōmaiou | rōmaiau | rōmaieu | rōmaioiu1×Ῥωμαίων | rōmaiaiu | rōmaieiu |
| to, for dative | rōmaio | rōmaia | rōmaie | rōmaioi2×Ῥωμαίοις | rōmaiai | rōmaiei |
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
rōmai 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.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
rōmaios“roman”subjectnominative singular4×
Acts 22:26… mellasō poiarō? tos gar anthrōpos houtos Rōmaios atō.… he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
Acts 22:27… chiliarchos legata auto; Legasōr mi, sis Rōmaios asō? tos de fēate; Nai.… asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he answered.
Acts 22:29… tos chiliarchos de fobita epignōskarantos hoti Rōmaios atō kai hoti auton ate darēntos.… realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.
Acts 23:27… sun te strateume exairema, matharantos hoti Rōmaios atō,… had learned that he is a Roman citizen,
rōmaion“roman”objectaccusative singular1×
Acts 22:25… stēarēnton hekatontarchēon tos Paulos; Ei anthrōpon Rōmaion kai akatakriton exestinatō vi mastizarō?… lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”
rōmaiois“romans”subjectnominative plural3×
John 11:48… pisteuali eis auton, kai ercheli tois Rōmaiois kai airali nu kai ton topon …… believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both …
Acts 2:10… tau kata Kurēnan, kai tois epidēmarōntois Rōmaiois,… parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,
Acts 16:38… rēmeim houteim; fobila de akouarantois hoti Rōmaiois alō,… hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
rōmaioin“roman”objectaccusative plural1×
Acts 16:37… autoin; Derarantois nin dēmosia akatakritoin, anthrōpoin Rōmaioin huparcharōntoin, balala eis fulakan; kai nun …… into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want …
rōmaioiu“romans”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Acts 28:17… Hierosolumeiu paradōima eis tain cheirain toiu Rōmaioiu,… Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.
rōmaioi“romans”to, fordative plural2×
Acts 16:21… ouk exestinatō ni paradechorō oude poiarō Rōmaioi arōntoi.… customs that are unlawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”
Acts 25:16“romans”… hoin apokrinima hoti ouk atō ethem Rōmaioi charizorō tinon anthrōpon prin ē tos …I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has …