noun · masculine
sitos
Strong’sG4621
wheat, grain
stem sit-14 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books2 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
Wheat or grain, the harvested cereal crop 1234. This is the ordinary Greek word for grain, applying to wheat in particular but capable of covering barley and other cereals as well 3. In the Bible it appears in contexts such as sowing and harvest, storing grain, grinding it, and grain as a cargo or trade commodity 1.
In wider Greek usage beyond the Bible, the word could also mean food or bread made from grain, used in contrast to meat, and even food in general as opposed to drink 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
Strong’s G4621 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidsee'-tos
grain, especially wheat
Fromof uncertain derivation;
King Jamescorn, wheat.
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
irregular plural σῖτα, τά, Refs 6th c.BC+:— grain, comprehending both wheat (πυρός) and barley (κριθή), ἐν [Ἰθάκῃ] σ. ἀθέσφατος ἐν δέ τε οἶνος γίγνεται Refs 8th c.BC+; περὶ σίτου ἐκβολήν about the shooting of the corn into ear, Refs 5th c.BC+; τοῦ σ. ἀκμάζοντος at its ripening, Refs 5th c.BC+; σ. ἀληλεσμένος or -εμένος ground corn, Refs 5th c.BC+; σίτου εἰσαγωγή, ἐξαγωγή, Refs 5th c.BC+; comprehending πυρός, κριθή, ὄλυρα, and φακός, Refs 2nd c.BC+; περὶ τοῦ σ. καὶ τοῦ σησάμου Refs 3rd c.BC+; ὁ σ. καὶ τὰ λάχανα as examples of πόα, Refs 4th c.BC+
2 food made from grain, bread, opposed to flesh-meat, σ. καὶ κρέα Refs 8th c.BC+; σῖτον ἔδοντες, a general epithet of men as opposed to to beasts, ὅσσοι νῦν βροτοί εἰσιν ἐπὶ χθονὶ σ. ἔδ. Refs 8th c.BC+; of savages, who eat flesh only, οὐδέ τι σῖτον ἤσθιον Refs 8th c.BC+; of civilized men, σῖτον καὶ σπείρουσι καὶ σιτέονται Refs 5th c.BC+; κάρδαμον ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῷ σ. Refs; πίνειν ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τῷ σRefs 1st c.AD+
3 in a wider sense, food, as opposed to to drink, σ. ἠδὲ ποτής Refs 8th c.BC+; even of porridge (κυκεών),Refs 8th c.BC+; εὐνὴ καὶ σ. Refs 8th c.BC+; provisions, σῖτα ἀναιρέεσθαι Refs 5th c.BC+; παρέχειν μέχρι τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν σ. Foed. cited in Refs 5th c.BC+
4 rarely of beasts, fodder, Refs 8th c.BC+—In the general sense of food, Prose writers prefer the diminutive form σιτία, τά.
II in Attic dialect Law, allowance of grain made to widows and orphans. σῖτον διδόναι, ἀποδιδόναι, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.2 δίκην σίτου δικάσασθαι, bring an action under the Athen. Corn-law against regraters and monopolists, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.3 allowance made to the Ἱππεῖς, Refs
II.4 public distribution of corn in Rome, Latin frumentatio, τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σίτου ὄντα ἐν Ῥώμῃ 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 | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | sitos | sitois |
| object accusative | siton9×σῖτον | sitoin |
| direct address vocative | sitor | sitoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | sitou5×σίτου | sitoiu |
| to, for dative | sito | sitoi |
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
sito 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.
14 occurrences, every one of them listed
siton“wheat”objectaccusative singular9×
Matthew 3:12… tan halōnan autou kai sunagati ton siton autou eis tan apothēkan, tem de …… threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will …
Matthew 13:29… teim zizanieim ekrizaveia hama autoi ton siton;… weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them.
Matthew 13:30… pros tem katakaiara auteim, ton de siton sunagavar eis tan apothēkan mu.… to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Mark 4:28… prōtem chorton, eita stachuon, eita plēron siton en to stachuo.… the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within.
Luke 3:17… tan halōnan autou kai sunagara ton siton eis tan apothēkan autou, tem de …… threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will …
Luke 12:18… oikodomami, kai sunagami ekei panton ton siton kai teim agatheim mu,… I will store up all my grain and my goods.
Luke 22:31… exaiteta vin teu siniazara hōs ton siton;… to sift all of you like wheat.
Acts 27:38“wheat”… trofēau koufizale tem ploiem ekbalorōntois ton siton eis tan thalassan.… fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
Revelation 18:13… oinon kai elaiem kai semidalian kai siton kai ktēneim kai probateim, kai hippoiu …… wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages …
sitou“wheat”of, belonging togenitive singular5×
Matthew 13:25… kai epispeirata zizanieim ana mesem tou sitou kai aperchata.… came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away.
Luke 16:7… ofeilasō? tos de legata; Hekaton koroin sitou; legatō auto; Dechesar su teim grammeim …… you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your bill and …
John 12:24… vi, ean mē tos kokkos tou sitou piptarantos eis tan gēan apothnēskateia, autos …… tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies …
1 Corinthians 15:37… sperasō alla gumnon kokkon ei tuchatoia sitou ē tineu teiu loipeiu;… but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.
Revelation 6:6… mese teiu tessares zōeiu legarōntan; Choinixas sitou dēnarieu, kai treis choinixais krithaiu dēnarieu; …… living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts …