Greek word · G146

αἰσχροκερδής

aischrokerdēs

greedy

Eager for base or shameful gain: someone who profits by disgraceful means, or whose appetite for money is itself disgraceful.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

αἰσχροκερδής, -ες

(αἰσχρός, κέρδος),

greedy of base gains: 1 Timothy 3:3,8 Abbot-Smith omits 1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:7.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Eager for base or shameful gain: someone who profits by disgraceful means, or whose appetite for money is itself disgraceful.
Against the English: KJV's 'greedy of filthy lucre' is close (lucre = profit; filthy = shameful) but now sounds comic. BSB and WEB 'greedy for money' drop the 'shameful' element. ESV and NIV 'dishonest gain' focus on the method. NLT 'dishonest with money' changes a desire into an act.
How it drifted: 'Filthy lucre' became a stock joke phrase, so modern readers hear humour, not a moral charge. Modern versions often flatten it to plain 'greed'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Herodotus 1.187 calls the Persian king Darius 'insatiable for money and shamefully greedy'. Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics 4.1, 1121b–1122a) defines aischrokerdeia as taking gain from sources one should not, and gives petty usurers and gamblers as examples. In the NT: Titus 1:7 (overseers), and 1 Pet 5:2, where elders are to shepherd 'not for shameful gain'.

Range of meaning: aischros 'shameful, disgraceful' + kerdos 'gain, profit': 'greedy for gain in a shameful way', making money by base or dishonest means, or caring so much about profit that it becomes disgraceful.
Against the English: KJV 'not given to filthy lucre' (archaic: 'lucre' is just 'money, profit'). WEB 'greedy for dishonest gain'; NASB 'fond of sordid gain'; BSB 'greedy for money'. BSB's 'greedy for money' loses the 'shameful' part: the issue is disgraceful gain, not money itself.
Used elsewhere in the period: Herodotus 1.187 pairs it with 'insatiable for money' in an inscription mocking Darius. Also 1 Tim 3:8 (deacons). Titus 1:11 uses the same idea of the false teachers who 'teach what they ought not, for shameful gain'. 1 Pet 5:2 has the adverb: shepherd 'not for shameful gain'.

1 Timothy · 1

1 Timothy 3:8 αἰσχροκερδεῖς, greedy of dishonest gain,

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued or given to much wine or greedy for money.

Here: A compound of 'shameful' (aischros) and 'gain' (kerdos): someone eager for profit in a way that disgraces them, whether by the methods used or by an appetite for money that should be beneath them. This fits a role that probably involved handling the community's resources.

Titus · 1

Titus 1:7 αἰσχροκερδῆ, greedy of base gain,

As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach—not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money.

Here: 'Shameful-gain-ish': eager for profit by disgraceful means. It looks ahead to v.11, where the false teachers on Crete teach 'for the sake of shameful gain'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.