Greek word · G4450

πυρρός

pyrros

fiery red

Flame-coloured, red, reddish (from pyr, 'fire'). Used of hair, animals, wine, and the red heifer (Numbers 19:2 LXX).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

πυρρός -ά, -όν

(πῦρ) [in LXX for אֱדֹם ;]

fiery red: Revelation 6:4 12:3.†

Πύρρος, -ου, ὁ,

Pyrrhus: Acts 20:4.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: Flame-coloured, red, reddish (from pyr, 'fire'). Used of hair, animals, wine, and the red heifer (Numbers 19:2 LXX).
Against the English: 'Red' is accurate. 'Fiery red' gets closer to the word's link with fire.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Revelation 6:4 the 'fiery red' horse is given power 'to take peace from the earth, so that people would slay one another'. Plutarch (On Isis and Osiris 30–33) says the Egyptian god Typhon/Set, the enemy who pursues Isis and her child Horus, was red-coloured, and that red animals were associated with him.

Range of meaning: Fire-colored: red, reddish, flame-red or tawny, from pyr ('fire'). Used of hair, skin, animals, wine and anything with a fiery hue.
Against the English: KJV, NASB and WEB have 'red'. BSB and ESV have 'bright red' and NIV has 'fiery red', which keeps the link to fire. Plain 'red' loses the fire, but the difference is small.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) it is used for the red horses in Zechariah's visions (Zech 1:8; 6:2), the red heifer (Num 19:2), and Esau's red stew (Gen 25:30). In the NT it appears only here and in Rev 12:3, where the 'great red dragon' is the source of persecution and murder.

Revelation · 2

Revelation 6:4 πυρρός. bright red.

Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword.

Here: 'Fire-red', from the word for fire. The color fits the rider's work of bloodshed, and it repeats the red horses of Zechariah 1:8 and 6:2. In the NT the word appears only here and for the 'great red dragon' of 12:3.
Revelation 12:3 πυρρὸς red

Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.

Here: Flame-red. The same word describes the horse of war and slaughter in 6:4. The colour suggests blood and violence.

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