ἀφεδρών (aphedrōn)
aphedrōn
latrine
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The noun aphedrōn refers to a privy or latrine, a place where waste is discharged from the body. It appears only twice in the New Testament, in Matthew 15:17 and Mark 7:19. In both instances, Jesus uses this mundane term to discuss what defiles a person, emphasizing that food enters the stomach and leaves through this channel.
The word is derived from a prefix meaning "away" and a root related to sitting or being seated. This etymology points directly to its function as a place of excretion. The sources note that Mark’s Gospel sometimes uses the synonym ochēts, meaning a channel or pipe, which highlights the physical process of waste leaving the body.
This rare word carries significant weight because Jesus applies it to spiritual teaching. By mentioning the latrine, He illustrates that external things cannot defile the heart. The term strips away any notion of ritual purity through food, focusing instead on internal moral state. It serves as a stark reminder that true cleanliness comes from within.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word aphedrōn refers to a privy or latrine, a place where waste is discharged from the body. It appears only twice in the New Testament, in Matthew 15:17 and Mark 7:19. In both instances, Jesus uses this mundane term to discuss what defiles a person, emphasizing that food enters the stomach and leaves through this channel.
The etymology points directly to its function as a place of excretion. By mentioning the latrine, He illustrates that external things cannot defile the heart. The term strips away any notion of ritual purity through food, focusing instead on internal moral state. It serves as a stark reminder that true cleanliness comes from within.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- sewer1×
- [the] sewer1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἀφεδρῶνα2×
Key Verses
-
Matthew 15:17
Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and then out of the body?
Jesus uses this term to show that physical intake passes through the body without touching the moral core.
-
Mark 7:19
because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?”
The explicit mention of the latrine underscores the finality of digestion, marking all foods as ceremonially clean.