Greek word · G4117

πλέγμα

plegma

braided

Anything woven or plaited (baskets, nets, wickerwork). Applied to hair, it means plaits or braids, and by extension an elaborate plaited coiffure.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

πλέγμα, -τος, τό

(πλέκω), [in Aq., Th.: Isaiah 28:5 * ;]

what is woven or twisted (as basket-work, nets, etc.); a braiding (sc. τριχῶν, cf. 1 Peter 3:3) : pl., 1 Timothy 2:9.†

(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 1 Timothy 2:9

Range of meaning

Anything woven or plaited (baskets, nets, wickerwork). Applied to hair, it means plaits or braids, and by extension an elaborate plaited coiffure.

Against the English

KJV "broided (= braided) hair," BSB/ESV/WEB "braided hair," NIV "elaborate hairstyles." "Braided hair" can make modern readers think of any braid, including ordinary everyday styles. The NIV's "elaborate hairstyles" captures the point better.

How it drifted

The Roman picture (hours of work by slave hairdressers, towering curls, gold and pearls woven in) has been lost, so "braids" sounds like a ban on a particular hairstyle.

Used elsewhere in the period

Roman portrait busts of elite women from the Flavian and Trajanic periods (late 1st century AD) show high piled curls and coiled braids, which needed specialist slave hairdressers (ornatrices). 1 Peter 3:3 makes the parallel point: "not the braiding (emplokē) of hair and the putting on of gold." Philo (Sacrifices 21) pictures Pleasure as a courtesan with elaborately dressed hair. Isaiah 3:16–24 lists the luxury ornaments of Jerusalem's women.

Where it appears

1 Timothy · 1

  1. 1 Timothy 2:9 πλέγμασιν braided hair

    Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

    Here: "Braidings, plaitings." In context these are the elaborate built-up hairstyles of wealthy women, often woven with gold and pearls, not simple braids.

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