verb
sigamō
Strong’sG4601
I keep silent
stem sig-9 times in the New Testamentin 3 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
Σιγάω means to be silent, to keep silence 1234, and by extension to keep something secret, i.e. to hold one's tongue about a matter 123.
In its basic use it describes a person falling or staying silent, being quiet, or ceasing to speak 13. This is the sense found in the New Testament passages where people are told to keep silent or fall silent 1.
It can also be used transitively, of holding a thing back in silence rather than telling it — keeping something secret or undisclosed 123; in the passive, a thing "is kept secret," as of a matter unspoken until revealed 13.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-24 — 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
σιγάω, -ῶ
(< σιγή), [in LXX for חרשׁ, חשׁה, etc.;]
SYN.: ἡσυχάζω, σιωπάω
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4601 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidsee-gah'-o
to keep silent (transitively or intransitively)
Fromfrom G4602;
King Jameskeep close (secret, silence), hold peace.
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
Doric dialect 2nd pers. singular σιγῇς Refs 5th c.BC+; Cyrenaic infinitive σιγέν Refs; 1st pers. singular optative σιγῷμ (ι) Refs 5th c.BC+: future -ήσομαιRefs 5th c.BC+ later -ήσω Refs 1st c.BC+: perfect σεσίγηκα Refs 4th c.BC+:— passive, future σιγηθήσομαι Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist ἐσιγήθην Refs 5th c.BC+perfect σεσίγημαι (see. below): (σιγή):— keep silence, used by Refs 8th c.BC+, hush! be still! Refs 8th c.BC+, Trag., and Attic dialect, as Refs 5th c.BC+; πρὸς τοῦτο, ἐν τούτῳ, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 metaphorically of things, σιγῶν δ᾽ ὄλεθρος καὶ μέγα φωνοῦντ᾽.. ἀμαθύνει Refs 5th c.BC+, secret, mystical:—passive, μέμψομαι σιωπὴν ὡς ἐσιλγήθη κακῶς I shall impute as a fault that silence was kept, Refs; also τί σεσίγηται δόμος Ἀδμήτο; why is it all silent? Refs; σιγῶντα λέγειν, λέγοντα σιγᾶν, phrases illustrating a logical fallacy, Refs 5th c.BC+
II transitive, hold silent, keep secret, Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.:—passive, to be kept silent or secret, σεσιγαμένον χρῆμα Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐσιγάθη δ᾽ ἂν ὑφορβός would never have been heard of, Refs 3rd 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| sigataἘσίγησεν | happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular | became silent | 1× |
| sigalaἐσίγησαν | happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural | kept silent | 2× |
| sigateiaσιγήσῃ | happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular | quiet | 1× |
| sigatōrσιγάτω | happening now · he/she/itpresent active imperative 3rd person singular | silent | 2× |
| sigalōrσιγάτωσαν | happening now · theypresent active imperative 3rd person plural | keep silent | 1× |
| sigarōσιγᾶν | happening now · the “to …” formpresent active infinitive | silent | 1× |
| sigaraσιγῆσαι | happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive | stopped speaking | 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, 3 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | sigamō | sigame | sigami | sigama | sigamē | sigamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | sigasō | sigase | sigasi | sigasa | sigasē | sigaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | sigatō | sigate | sigati | sigata1×Ἐσίγησεν | sigatē | sigatelē |
| we 1st person plural | siganō | sigane | sigani | sigana | siganē | siganelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | sigavō | sigave | sigavi | sigava | sigavē | sigavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | sigalō | sigale | sigali | sigala2×ἐσίγησαν | sigalē | sigalelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, 1 occurrence
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | sigameiō | sigameia | sigameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | sigaseiō | sigaseia | sigaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | sigateiō | sigateia1×σιγήσῃ | sigateiē |
| we 1st person plural | siganeiō | siganeia | siganeiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | sigaveiō | sigaveia | sigaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | sigaleiō | sigaleia | sigaleiē |
Commands — imperative mood, 3 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | sigasōr | sigasar | sigasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | sigatōr2×σιγάτω | sigatar | sigatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | sigavōr | sigavar | sigavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | sigalōr1×σιγάτωσαν | sigalar | sigalēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | sigamoiō | sigamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | sigasoiō | sigasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | sigatoiō | sigatoia |
| we 1st person plural | siganoiō | siganoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | sigavoiō | sigavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | sigaloiō | sigaloia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, 2 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | sigarō1×σιγᾶν | sigari | sigara1×σιγῆσαι | sigarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, no occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | sigarōntos | sigarintos | sigarantos | sigarēntos |
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
sig 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.
9 occurrences, every one of them listed
sigata“became silent”happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular1×
Acts 15:12“became silent”Sigata de pantem tem plēthem, kai akouale …The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God …
sigala“kept silent”happened · theyaorist active indicative 3rd person plural2×
Luke 9:36“kept silent”… fōnan heuriskita Iēsus monos. kai autois sigala kai oudeno apangelala en ekeinai tai …After the voice had spoken, only Jesus was present with them. The disciples kept this to themselves, and in those days they did not …
Luke 20:26“became silent”… kai thaumazarantois epi ta apokrisia autou sigala.… the people. And amazed at His answer, they fell …
sigateia“quiet”happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular1×
Luke 18:39“quiet”kai tois proagarōntois epitimale auto hina sigateia; autos de polle mallon krazate; Huior …Those who led the way admonished him to be silent, but he cried out all the louder, “Son of David …
sigatōr“silent”happening now · he/she/itpresent active imperative 3rd person singular2×
1 Corinthians 14:28“keep silent”ean de mē ateiō diermēneutos, sigatōr en ekklēsa, heauto de lalatōr kai …But if there is no interpreter, he should remain silent in the church and speak only to himself and God.
1 Corinthians 14:30“silent”… de alloso apokaluptiteia kathorōnto, tos prōtos sigatōr.… is seated, the first speaker should …
sigalōr“keep silent”happening now · theypresent active imperative 3rd person plural1×
1 Corinthians 14:34“keep silent”Tais gunaikais en tai ekklēsai sigalōr, ouk gar epitrepotō autai lalarō; alla …Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
sigarō“silent”happening now · the “to …” formpresent active infinitive1×
Acts 12:17“silent”kataseiarantos de autoi ta cheira sigarō diēgeta autoi pōs tos kurios auton …… with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of …
sigara“stopped speaking”happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive1×
Acts 15:13“stopped speaking”meta de tem sigara autoin apokrinita Iakōbos legarōntos; Androir adelfoir, …When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to …