ψεῦδος
pseûdos · G5579 · Greek · 10 occurrences
Meanings
-
lie, falsehood
(Derivative of ψεύδομαι ‘to lie,’) The content of a false utterance
ExamplesJohn 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Romans 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE OF YOU WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, because we are parts of one another.
How it’s used In 5 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
What it doesIt is the subject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- εὑρίσκωto find, to discover 1
What is done to itIt is the object
5 occurrences in 5 groups
- ποιέωto do, to make 2
- λαλέωto speak 1
- πιστεύωto believe 1
- φιλέωto love 1
- ἀποτίθημιto put away 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἀλήθειαtruth 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἐνin 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- τέραςwonder, portent 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Contrasting words 1 word
- ἀλήθεια alḗtheia · G225 · truth, actually, really
- The target, denoting a lie or falsehood, and ἀλήθεια, denoting truth, are direct lexical opposites — falsehood and truth are mutually exclusive categories, representing a genuine antonym relationship rather than a merely thematic contrast.
In the other Testament 4 words
- שֶׁקֶר sheqer · H8267 · treachery, wrongfully, without cause
- Hebrew שֶׁקֶר (sheqer) is the primary Old Testament equivalent for Greek ψεῦδος, both denoting falsehood, lies, and deception as abstract concepts; the Hebrew term's broader semantic range (including 'vain,' 'wrongfully') encompasses the Greek term's narrower focus on propositional falsehood, making this a direct translation equivalent across testaments.
- כָּזָב kâzâb · H3577 · falsehood, lie, lies
- Hebrew כָּזָב denotes falsehood/lying with emphasis on the deceptive quality, while Greek ψεῦδος denotes the falsehood itself as an abstract concept; both translate the same semantic domain of untruth/deception and function as direct cross-linguistic equivalents.
- שָׁוְא shâvᵉʼ · H7723 · falsehood, deceit, deceitfulness
- שָׁוְא (shâvᵉʼ, H7723) is the primary Hebrew lexeme for falsehood/vanity that ψεῦδος (pseûdos, G5579) renders in LXX alignment contexts, establishing direct translation equivalence across the Hebrew-to-Greek semantic domain of deception and emptiness.
- כַּחַשׁ kachash · H3585 · leanness, gauntness, lies
- Hebrew כַּחַשׁ (lies, lying, deception) directly translates Greek ψεῦδος (falsehood, lie) as cross-linguistic equivalents denoting the core concept of untruth or deceptive speech.
Semantic domains 1 entry
- Lie, falsehood33.254
- Ephesians 4:25 instructs, “ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE OF YOU WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, because we are parts of one another.”
Word family 16 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ψευδοῦς, τό, from Homer down, the Sept. for כָּזָב שֶׁקֶר, כַּחַשׁ, a lie; conscious and…
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 1 entry
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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