Bible word study

Phtheiro (Strong’s G5351): Meaning in the Bible

Phtheiro (φθείρω) is the Greek word numbered G5351 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to shrivel or wither, i.e. to spoil (by any process) or (generally) to ruin (especially figuratively, by moral influences, to deprave). In the King James Bible it is translated corrupt (self), defile, destroy..

• Original wordφθείρω
• Transliterationphtheírō
• Pronunciationfthi'-ro
• Strong’s numberG5351
• LanguageGreek

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. probably strengthened from (to pine or waste);

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Phtheiro appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Phtheiro (G5351) stands behind 9 English renderings in 7 verses across 5 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in 1 Corinthians (4), 2 Corinthians (2), Ephesians (1).

How the King James Bible renders Phtheiro, by count

• corrupt3 of 9 (33 percent)
• corrupted2 of 9 (22 percent)
• defile1 of 9 (11 percent)
• destroy1 of 9 (11 percent)
• shall1 of 9 (11 percent)
• themselves1 of 9 (11 percent)

Three places to read Phtheiro

• 1 Corinthians 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
• 2 Corinthians 7:2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
• Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Phtheiro in the original Greek lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

Related words