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Greek Word for Meekness: What Does “Prautes” Really Mean?
Quick answer: The Greek word for meekness is πραΰτης (prautes), pronounced prah-OO-tace, Strong’s G4236. Some Greek manuscripts spell it praotes (πραότης); it’s the same word. Its adjective is praus (πραΰς, Strong’s G4239), “meek,” the word in “Blessed are the meek” (Matthew 5:5). The KJV almost always translates it “meekness.” But in Greek, this word wasn’t about being mild or timid. Greek writers used it for a person whose anger and strength were fully under control: angry at the right things, calm at everything else, and never pushed around by their own temper.
Word Study: Where “Prautes” Comes From
Long before the New Testament was written, Greek already had a clear idea of what praos meant, and it was not “weak.”
It was used of tamed animals. Greek writers could call a wild animal that had been tamed praos. Plato, describing the kind of guard dog a city needs, says the best dog is gentle (praos) with the people it knows and fierce with enemies (Republic, Book 2). The dog hasn’t lost its teeth. It has learned when to use them. You’ll often hear preachers describe meekness as a trained warhorse: all its power still there, now answering to the rider. That picture fits the word well. The strength isn’t gone. It has a master.
It was the virtue of rightly governed anger. The clearest definition comes from Aristotle. In his Nicomachean Ethics (Book 4), he names praotes as the virtue that sits between two failures. On one side is the hot-tempered person, angry too quickly, too often, at the wrong things. On the other side is the person who never gets angry at all, even at real wrongs. Aristotle doesn’t praise that second person. He says someone who won’t be angered even when they or their friends are insulted is foolish and slavish. Praotes is the healthy middle: angry at the right things, in the right way, for the right length of time, and otherwise calm.
That changes the word completely. In English, “meek” sounds like the person who never gets angry. In Greek, the meek person is the one whose anger has been trained. They can still overturn a table. They just won’t overturn one because someone hurt their pride.
The New Testament then takes this word and does something no Greek philosopher did: it moves meekness from a skill you master to a fruit the Spirit grows. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22–23). For Aristotle, you trained your own temper. For Paul, God’s Spirit holds the reins.
Want to learn meekness from the One who showed it best? Jesus is the clearest picture of strength under control anywhere in Scripture, and the best way to learn it is to walk with Him day by day through the Gospels. 30 Days Walking with Jesus is a set of short, easy-to-read devotionals that bring His words, actions, and love to life. It’s built for new Christians learning how to start and for long-time Christians who want the connection back. The 3-day sample below is free.
Where This Word Appears in the Bible
The noun prautes appears about a dozen times in the New Testament, almost all in the letters, and the adjective praus four times. Look at when the word shows up. It’s nearly always a moment where someone could easily lose their temper: correcting a friend, answering a critic, being taught something hard.
| Reference | Text (KJV) | What the word is doing here |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 5:5 | “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” | Praus: the Beatitude, quoting Psalm 37:11 |
| Galatians 5:22–23 | “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” | Prautes as something the Spirit grows, not a personality type |
| Galatians 6:1 | “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” | Meekness when correcting someone who has fallen |
| James 1:21 | “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” | Meekness when you are the one being corrected |
| 1 Peter 3:15 | “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” | Meekness when defending the faith to a skeptic |
Galatians 6:1 is worth a second look. The word “restore” is katartizo, the same word Matthew uses for fishermen “mending their nets” (Matthew 4:21). When someone falls, the meek person doesn’t tear them further; they mend. And notice the reason Paul gives: “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Meekness comes easier when you remember you could be the one who needs mending next.
One small note for careful readers: the “gentleness” in Galatians 5:22 is a different Greek word (chrestotes, kindness). Prautes is the “Meekness” in verse 23.
Verse Deep Dive: Matthew 21:5–13, The Meek King on a Donkey
“Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” (Matthew 21:5)
This is the only place in the Gospels where the word praus is attached to a specific action of Jesus, and the action is the whole point.
1. Matthew is quoting a prophecy about a king. The line comes from Zechariah 9:9: “behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass.” When Matthew’s Greek quotes it, the word he uses is praus, meek. This is a King entering the capital. Crowds are shouting “Hosanna to the son of David” (Matthew 21:9). Everything about the moment says power.
2. Kings rode warhorses. This King chose a donkey. Read one more verse in Zechariah: “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen” (Zechariah 9:10). The meek King doesn’t arrive on the animal of war. He arrives on the animal of peace. Jesus had every right to enter Jerusalem as a conqueror. The meekness is in the choice not to.
3. Then, the very same day, He overturns the tables. Keep reading: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves” (Matthew 21:12). He says, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).
If “meek” meant “never angry,” Matthew 21 would contradict itself within seven verses. But it doesn’t, because prautes never meant that. This is Aristotle’s definition lived out perfectly, and then some. Jesus doesn’t get angry about His own honor. Later that week He will be mocked, struck, and spit on, and He won’t fight back. But He does get angry when God’s house is turned into a marketplace and the people who came to pray are being robbed. That’s strength under control: gentle on the donkey, fierce at the tables, and never once driven by wounded pride.
4. The meek King is still a King. The donkey doesn’t make Jesus less of a king. It shows what kind of King He is. The same Jesus who said “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29) is the one the prophet called “just, and having salvation.” Meekness isn’t the absence of authority. It’s authority that doesn’t need to prove itself.
Not All “Meekness” Is the Same
Hebrew uses one word, anavah, for both meekness and humility (see our study of the Hebrew word for meekness). Greek splits the idea into several words, and Paul sometimes puts them side by side on purpose, as in “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).
| Word | Meaning | What it’s about |
|---|---|---|
| prautes (πραΰτης, G4236) | Meekness | How you handle your strength and anger toward others |
| tapeinophrosyne (ταπεινοφροσύνη, G5012) | Lowliness, humility; literally “low-mindedness” | How you think about yourself |
| epieikeia (ἐπιείκεια, G1932) | Gentleness, clemency, reasonableness | Choosing not to demand everything you’re entitled to |
Humility is the inside: an honest, low view of yourself before God. Meekness is what that humility looks like when someone pushes you: you have strength, and you don’t use it to protect your ego. Epieikeia goes one step further: you could insist on your rights, and you let some of them go. Paul pairs the last two when he appeals to the Corinthians “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:1): prautes and epieikeia together, both describing Jesus.
Why the Original Word Changes the Meaning
“Blessed are the meek” is one of the hardest Beatitudes for modern readers to love, because English “meek” sounds like a doormat. Nobody wants to be a doormat, and nobody should be told God wants them to be one.
But a Greek listener would have heard praus very differently. The meek aren’t people without strength or without convictions. They’re people whose strength no longer serves their pride. They can confront sin (Galatians 6:1), defend their faith (1 Peter 3:15), and even turn over tables when the vulnerable are being exploited. What they don’t do is fight for themselves out of wounded ego, or grab what they think they deserve.
That’s also why meekness is the one thing James says you need to receive God’s word: “receive with meekness the engrafted word” (James 1:21). A person with an uncontrolled temper argues with every correction. A meek person can hear hard truth without bristling, because their strength is no longer busy defending itself. In that sense, meekness isn’t just how you treat others. It’s what makes you teachable.
Knowing prautes turns meekness from a weak-sounding virtue into one of the strongest things a person can have: power with a bridle on it, held by God.
Living It Out
Think about your anger this week, not whether you have it, but what triggers it. Aristotle’s test and Jesus’ example point to the same question: Am I angry because something is truly wrong, or because my pride got bumped? The next time you feel your temper rise, pause long enough to ask it. If it’s pride, let it go. If it’s a real wrong, especially one done to someone weaker, speak up, but do it the way Galatians 6:1 says: to mend, not to tear.
And try the harder half, too. When someone corrects you this week, receive it “with meekness” (James 1:21). Don’t defend yourself right away. Just listen, and ask God whether there’s something true in it.
Journal Prompts
- Aristotle said meekness sits between being hot-tempered and never being angry at real wrongs. Which way do you tend to drift? What is one situation where you got angry for the wrong reason, or stayed silent when you should have spoken?
- In Matthew 21, Jesus rode in on a donkey and overturned the tables on the same day. What is something you’ve been fighting for that’s really about your pride? What is something worth being angry about that you’ve been ignoring?
- Galatians 6:1 says to restore a fallen person “in the spirit of meekness,” using a word for mending nets. Is there someone in your life who has fallen? What would it look like to mend instead of tear?
Prayer
Lord, You know how quickly my temper rises when my pride is hurt, and how quietly I sometimes stay when something truly wrong is happening. Grow prautes in me as the fruit of Your Spirit. Take the reins of my strength and my anger. Make me gentle where I’ve been harsh, and brave where I’ve been silent. When I correct someone, help me mend and not tear. When I’m corrected, help me receive it with meekness. Jesus came as a King on a donkey; let me learn from Him how to hold power with open hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Share This
If this study helped you, here are two posts you can copy and share:
- The Greek word for meekness, prautes, doesn’t mean weak. Greek writers used it for anger rightly governed: calm at insults, fierce at real wrongs. Meekness is strength under control. [Post URL]
- Matthew calls Jesus “meek” as He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The same day, He overturns the moneychangers’ tables. Biblical meekness was never about having no strength. [Post URL]
FAQ
What is the Greek word for meekness?
The Greek noun for meekness is prautes (πραΰτης, also spelled praotes, Strong’s G4236). The adjective praus (πραΰς, Strong’s G4239) means “meek” and is used in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek,” and Matthew 11:29, where Jesus says, “I am meek and lowly in heart.”
Does meekness mean weakness?
No. In Greek, prautes described strength and anger that are under control, not missing. Aristotle defined it as the balance between a hot temper and never being angry at real wrongs. Jesus is called meek in Matthew 21:5 on the same day He overturned the tables in the temple (Matthew 21:12).
What is the difference between meekness and humility in Greek?
Humility (tapeinophrosyne) is about how you see yourself: a low, honest view of yourself before God. Meekness (prautes) is about how you treat others with the strength you have: not using it to defend your pride. Paul lists them together in Ephesians 4:2, “With all lowliness and meekness.”
Is meekness a fruit of the Spirit?
Yes. Galatians 5:22–23 lists “Meekness” among the fruit of the Spirit, and the Greek word there is prautes. That means biblical meekness isn’t only a personality trait or a skill you master on your own; it is something God’s Spirit grows in a person.
Learn meekness from the King who rode in on a donkey. 30 Days Walking with Jesus offers 30 days of short, easy-to-read devotionals that bring Jesus’ words, actions, and love to life, whether you’re just starting out or rekindling a faith that has gone quiet. Start with the free 3-day sample:
