Greek word · G2874

κοπρία

kopria

manure

Kopria (fem.) / kopria (neut. pl. of kopriōn) means 'dung, manure, dunghill, rubbish heap'. It is a plain, earthy word, not a technical term for fertiliser. Strong's lists the lemma κοπρία; the critical text's form κόπρια is the neuter plural of κόπριον, a related word of the same meaning.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

κοπρία, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX chiefly for אַשְׁפֹּת ;]

a dung hill (1 Kings 2:8, Psalms 113:7 al.): Luke 14:35.†

κόπριον, -ου, τό,

[in LXX (pl.): Jeremiah 25:33 (דֹּמֶן), Sirach 22:2, 1Ma.2:62 * ;]

= κόπρος, dung: pl., Luke 13:8 (WH, mg., κόφινον κοπρίων).†

(AS)

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

In depth

From the study of Luke 13:8

Range of meaning: Kopria (fem.) / kopria (neut. pl. of kopriōn) means 'dung, manure, dunghill, rubbish heap'. It is a plain, earthy word, not a technical term for fertiliser. Strong's lists the lemma κοπρία; the critical text's form κόπρια is the neuter plural of κόπριον, a related word of the same meaning.
Against the English: KJV "dung it" is blunt and accurate. BSB, WEB and NIV have "fertilize it", ESV "put on manure", NASB "put in fertilizer", YLT "cast in dung". "Fertilize" is correct in function but cleans up the word and can suggest bagged products.
How it drifted: Modern English moved from "dung" to "manure" to "fertilizer" partly out of politeness and partly because modern farms use chemicals. The Greek word is the barnyard one.
Used elsewhere in the period: Luke uses it again in 14:35: salt that has lost its taste is fit 'neither for the soil nor for the manure heap (kopria)'. In the LXX, God 'lifts the needy from the dunghill' (1 Sam 2:8; Ps 113:7), and Lamentations 4:5 has the once-pampered 'embracing dunghills'. In his Sermon 110 Augustine famously read the manure (Latin stercus, in his text 'a basket of dung') as the lowly, 'dirty' humility of repentance. That is a later allegory, but it shows how strongly the image struck readers.

Where it appears

Luke · 2

Luke 13:8 κόπρια· manure;

‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

Here: "Manure": animal dung, the farm's only fertiliser, and a blunt word. It answers the owner's complaint that the tree is 'using up the soil' (v. 7). The vinedresser will feed the ground instead.
Luke 14:35 κοπρίαν manure

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

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