Greek word · G2555

κακοποιός

kakopoios

wrongdoing

Wrongdoer or evildoer, literally 'one who does bad'. It can mean a criminal or lawbreaker, like the Latin maleficus.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

κακοποιός, -όν

(κακόν, ποιέω), [in LXX: Proverbs 12:4 (בּוּשׁ hi.) Proverbs 24:19 (רָעַע hi.)* ;]

doing evil; as susbt., an evil-doer: 1 Peter 2:12 2:14 4:15.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: Wrongdoer or evildoer, literally 'one who does bad'. It can mean a criminal or lawbreaker, like the Latin maleficus.
Against the English: Versions say 'evildoers' (BSB, KJV, ESV, WEB) or 'doing wrong' (NIV). 'Evildoer' sounds vaguely moral or spiritual to modern ears, but here it can mean something close to 'criminal'.
Used elsewhere in the period: In 1 Pet 2:14 the governors punish kakopoioi and praise 'those who do good'. In 4:15 the word is listed with 'murderer, thief'. Some manuscripts of John 18:30 use it for the charge against Jesus. Roman writers of the early 2nd century describe Christians as hated 'for their shameful acts' (Tacitus, Annals 15.44) and speak of 'crimes attached to the name' (Pliny, Letters 10.96, written from Bithynia, one of 1 Peter's provinces).

Range of meaning: 'Evil-doer, wrongdoer'. In public settings it means a criminal, someone liable to punishment by the authorities. It is the opposite of agathopoios, 'one who does good' (1 Pet 2:14).
Against the English: KJV, ESV and WEB have 'evildoer', BSB 'wrongdoer', NIV 'any other kind of criminal'. NIV's rendering best captures the legal, catch-all function of the word in this list.
How it drifted: 'Evildoer' now sounds archaic and broadly moral, like 'sinner' or a fairy-tale villain. In 1 Peter the word is civic and legal: it names the sort of person a governor punishes.
Used elsewhere in the period: In 1 Peter 2:12 pagans 'speak against you as evildoers (kakopoiōn)', and in 2:14 governors are sent 'for the punishment of evildoers (kakopoiōn)'. Some manuscripts of John 18:30 use the same word for Jesus as a criminal handed to Pilate. Later Latin law used maleficus, the Latin equivalent, especially for sorcerers, and a few scholars have suggested 'magician' here. That is a minority view with weak support for the first century. The Vulgate renders the word here as maledicus, 'slanderer'.

1 Peter · 3

1 Peter 2:12 κακοποιῶν, evildoers,

Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

Here: Literally 'bad-doer'. It can mean a criminal (in 4:15 it appears next to murderer and thief). The charge is that they are dangerous to public order. The word is set against the 'fine works' that follow.
1 Peter 2:14 κακοποιῶν, to evildoers,

or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.
1 Peter 4:15 κακοποιὸς an evildoer

Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler.

Here: Literally 'evil-doer'. In 1 Peter it carries a public, legal sense: the kakopoioi are the people governors are sent to punish (2:14), and the slander pagans throw at Christians (2:12). Here it rounds off the list of crimes, much like 'or any other criminal'.

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