Greek word · G3914

παραχειμάζω

paracheimazō

to winter

To spend the winter somewhere, to winter. Used of ships, armies and travellers who stop moving during the cold season.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 14, 2026

What it means

παρα-χειμάζω

to winter at a place: before εἰς, Acts 27:12; ἐν, Acts 28:11; πρὸς ὑμᾶς, 1 Corinthians 16:6; ἐκεῖ, Titus 3:12.†

(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 spend the winter somewhere, to winter. Used of ships, armies and travellers who stop moving during the cold season.
Against the English: 'Winter there' (KJV, BSB, NIV) is accurate. 'Spend the winter' (ESV, NLT) is clearer to modern readers. The renderings agree; what is easily missed is what wintering meant.
How it drifted: For modern readers 'wintering' somewhere can sound like a choice of comfort, like a seasonal holiday. In the ancient world it meant being grounded by closed seas.
Used elsewhere in the period: Luke uses the verb three times in the shipwreck story (Acts 27:12; 28:11) and Paul uses it in 1 Cor 16:6. Acts 27:9–12 shows the danger after 'the Fast' (the Day of Atonement, around late September or October) and the scramble to find a harbour fit 'to winter in'. The Roman writer Vegetius (De re militari 4.39) describes the sea as effectively closed from about 11 November to 10 March, with dangerous sailing on either side. Polybius and other historians use the word of armies in winter quarters.

Range of meaning: 'To spend the winter (somewhere)', from para- ('beside, at') + cheimazō, related to cheimōn ('winter, storm'). It was the normal word for ships, armies or travelers holed up for the stormy season.
Against the English: 'Winter' as a verb (KJV, YLT) or 'spend the winter' (BSB) is accurate. A modern reader might picture a seasonal holiday. The ancient sense is closer to 'be stuck until travel reopens'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Acts 27:12 (the harbor 'unsuitable for wintering'); Acts 28:11 (an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at Malta); Titus 3:12 ('I have decided to winter there', at Nicopolis). It is common in Polybius and Diodorus for armies in winter quarters. Vegetius (On Military Matters 4.39) says sailing was safe roughly 27 May–14 September, risky until 11 November and from 10 March, and closed in between.

Acts · 2

Acts 27:12 παραχειμάσαι to winter [there] —

Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping that somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest.
Acts 28:11 παρακεχειμακότι having wintered

After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead.

1 Corinthians · 1

1 Corinthians 16:6 παραχειμάσω, I will winter,

Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go.

Here: 'I will winter (with you)': stay through the months when sea travel was shut down and land travel was hard. It implies a stay of several months.

Titus · 1

Titus 3:12 παραχειμάσαι. to winter.

As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.

Here: To stay put for the winter months, when sea travel in the Mediterranean largely stopped. It is a travel and navigation term, not a reference to a holiday.

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