adjective

Greekταπεινός (tapeinos)

Biblang

tapeinos

Strong’sG5011

humble, lowly

stem tapein-8 times in the New Testamentin 6 of 27 books3 of 26 forms occur

What it means

What the word means, in the words of the lexicons out of copyright — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones, wherever each has an entry for it.

ταπεινός, -ή, -όν

[in LXX for שָׁפָל, עָנִי, עָנָי, etc.;]

low-lying; metaph.,

(a) lowly, of low degree, brought low: Ja 1:9, II Co 7:6 (cf. Si 25:23); οἱ τ., opp. to δυνάσται, Lk 1:52; τ. ταπεινοῖς (neut., R, txt.; masc., R, mg.; v. ICC, in l.), Ro 12:16;

(b) lowly in spirit, humble, in cl. usually in a slighting sense (v. Tr., Syn., § xlii; but v. also Abbott, Essays, 81), in NT in an honourable sense: II Co 10:1; seq. τ. καρδίᾳ, Mt 11:29 (cf. Ps 33 (34):19); opp. to ὑπερήφανος, Ja 4:6, I Pe 5:5 (LXX).†

G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.

Strong’s G5011 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from

Saidtap-i-nos'

depressed, i.e. (figuratively) humiliated (in circumstances or disposition)

Fromof uncertain derivation;

King Jamesbase, cast down, humble, of low degree (estate), lowly.

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

τᾰπεινός, ή, όν,
low:
1 of Place, low-lying, χώρη Refs 5th c.BC+; νῆσος Refs 1st c.BC+; ταπεινὰ νέμεσθαι to live in low regions, Refs 5th c.BC+; of stature or size, low, ὀστᾶ Refs 5th c.BC+; of position in the body, τὰ τ. τοῦ θώρακος Refs 2nd c.AD+; of a river, low, opposed to μέγας, Refs 2nd c.BC+; of stars, low, i.e. near the horizon, Refs 2nd c.AD+; but also, near the earth, Refs; of the sun, opposed to ὑψηλός, Refs 2nd c.AD+; λοξὸς καὶ τ. Refs 2nd c.AD+
2 of persons, humbled, abased in power, pride, etc., Refs 5th c.BC+; σὺ δ᾽ οὐδέπω τ. Refs 5th c.BC+; submissive, Refs 5th c.BC+; αἱ τ. τῶν πόλεων small, poor, weak, Refs 5th c.BC+; τ. δύναμις Refs 4th c.BC+; of low intelligence, αἱ τῶν ἀσυνέτων καὶ τ. ἀνθρώπων ψυχαί Refs 2nd c.AD+ adverb, ταπεινῶς (or ταπεινὰ) πράττειν to be in low estate or obscurity, Refs 5th c.BC+
3 of the spirits, downcast, dejected, διάνοια Refs 5th c.BC+
4 in moral sense, either bad, mean, base, abject, τ. καὶ ἀνελεύθερος Refs 5th c.BC+; or good, lowly, humble, Refs 5th c.BC+, frequently in NT, NT
5 of things, mean, low, poor, τ. καὶ ἄπορος δίαιτα Refs 5th c.BC+: superlative, -οτάτη περίστασις Refs 1st c.AD+; θεωρία -οτέρα, opposed to τιμιωτέρα, Refs 4th c.BC+; of style, low, poor, τ. λέξις, opposed to κεκοσμημένη, Refs adverb, -νῶς λέγειν in a submissive manner, Refs

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.

humble4×lowly3×downcast1×

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	tapeinos3×ταπεινὸς	tapeinas	tapeinem	tapeinois	tapeinais	tapeineim
object accusative	tapeinon	tapeinan		tapeinoin2×ταπεινούς	tapeinain
direct address vocative	tapeinor	tapeinar		tapeinoir	tapeinair
of, belonging to genitive	tapeinou	tapeinau	tapeineu	tapeinoiu	tapeinaiu	tapeineiu
to, for dative	tapeino	tapeina	tapeine	tapeinoi3×ταπεινοῖς	tapeinai	tapeinei

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

tapeinstem+oaegender+smnru—its job in the sentence case+—ione · more than one number

tapein 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.

tapeinamō — ταπεινόω, I humble, humiliate

Where it appears

Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.

8 occurrences, every one of them listed

tapeinos“humble”subjectnominative singular3×

Matthew 11:29… apo mu, hoti prauos amō kai tapeinos ta kardia, kai heuriskavi anapausian tai …… Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find …

2 Corinthians 10:1… tou Christou, hos kata prosōpem men tapeinos en vi, apeiarōntos de tharramō eis …… to you — I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you …

James 1:9“lowly”Kauchotōr de tos adelfos tos tapeinos en te hupse autou,The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.

tapeinoin“lowly”objectaccusative plural2×

Luke 1:52“lowly”kathairata dunastoin apo thronoiu kai hupsata tapeinoin,He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

2 Corinthians 7:6alla tos parakalarōntos toin tapeinoin parakalata nin tos theos en ta …But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of …

tapeinoi“humble”to, fordative plural3×

Romans 12:16… mē teim hupsēleim fronarōntois alla toi tapeinoi sunapagorōntois. mē genovōr fronimois para heautoi.… be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

James 4:6… dio legatō; Tos theos huperēfanoi antitassotō tapeinoi de dōatō charitan.… proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5… enkombevar, hoti Tos theos huperēfanoi antitassotō tapeinoi de dōatō charitan.… proud, but gives grace to the humble.”