Greek word · G2220

ζυμόω

zymoō

to leaven

To leaven, cause to ferment or rise.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

ζυμόω, -ῶ

to leaven: Matthew 13:33, Luke 13:21, 1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: To leaven, cause to ferment or rise.
Against the English: KJV's 'leaveneth' and BSB's 'works through' both capture it. BSB's phrase brings out the gradual, spreading process well.
Used elsewhere in the period: Exod 12:34, 39 LXX (dough not yet leavened at the Exodus); Matt 13:33; Gal 5:9.

Range of meaning: To leaven, to cause to ferment or rise. Used of dough and, by extension, of anything that spreads through a whole.
Against the English: KJV, ESV and NASB keep the repetition ('leaven leaveneth/leavens'). BSB and NIV turn it into 'works through' and WEB into 'grows through'. These are clearer in modern English but lose the echo of the same root.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the NT it appears only in this proverb (here and 1 Cor 5:6) and in the parable of the leaven (Matt 13:33; Luke 13:21, 'until the whole was leavened'). The LXX uses it of leavened dough in the Passover laws (Exod 12:34, 39).

Range of meaning: Zymoō means to leaven or cause to ferment. In the passive it means to be leavened. Holos means whole, entire, all of it.
Against the English: "Till the whole was leavened" (KJV, YLT), "until all of it was leavened" (BSB), "until it was all leavened" (WEB). These are broadly faithful.
Used elsewhere in the period: The same pair of words appears in Paul's proverb 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump' (μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ, 1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9). This shows it was a common saying about small causes having total effects.

Matthew · 1

Matthew 13:33 ἐζυμώθη was leavened

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”

Here: "Was leavened." The dough is acted on: it does not leaven itself, the leaven works on it. The past tense looks at the finished state rather than the stages along the way.

Luke · 1

Luke 13:21 ἐζυμώθη was leavened

It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”

1 Corinthians · 1

1 Corinthians 5:6 ζυμοῖ; leavens?

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?

Here: 'Leavens, ferments through.' The present tense states a general truth, how dough always behaves. Once leaven is in, it does not stay local.

Galatians · 1

Galatians 5:9 ζυμοῖ. leavens.

A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough.

Here: A present tense stating a general truth: this is what leaven always does. It also describes a process already under way. The verb repeats the root of 'leaven', so the leaven does what leaven does, steadily and out of sight.

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