Greek word · G521

ἀπαίδευτος

apaideutos

uninstructed

The negative of paideia, the Greek word for upbringing, education, training and discipline. It means uneducated or untaught, but also undisciplined, boorish or ill-bred: a person or thing without the shaping that training gives. Used of things, it can mean crude, or not instructive.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

ἀ-παίδευτος, -ον

(παιδεύω), [in LXX for כְּסִיל, etc., chiefly in Wis. lit. ;]

uninstructed, ignorant: 2 Timothy 2:23.†

(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 2 Timothy 2:23

Range of meaning: The negative of paideia, the Greek word for upbringing, education, training and discipline. It means uneducated or untaught, but also undisciplined, boorish or ill-bred: a person or thing without the shaping that training gives. Used of things, it can mean crude, or not instructive.
Against the English: KJV 'unlearned,' ESV/BSB/NASB/WEB 'ignorant,' NIV 'stupid,' YLT 'uninstructed.' 'Ignorant' and 'stupid' sound like insults about IQ. The Greek points to a lack of training and discipline, so the debates come from people who have not been formed by real teaching, and they form no one.
How it drifted: The English options each catch one part (lack of knowledge or lack of intelligence) and miss the moral and educational picture of paideia, which in Jewish wisdom tradition was the discipline of a father training a son.
Used elsewhere in the period: It occurs only here in the NT. The Greek Old Testament wisdom books use it often: Prov 8:5 ('you untrained ones, take it to heart'); Sir 8:4 (do not joke with an apaideutos); Sir 10:3 ('an undisciplined king ruins his people'); Sir 20:19, 24 (on words spoken out of season in the mouth of the untrained). Josephus and Greek moralists use it of crude, uneducated behaviour. The Vulgate translates it 'sine disciplina,' 'without discipline.'

Where it appears

2 Timothy · 1

2 Timothy 2:23 ἀπαιδεύτους ignorant

But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.

Here: Literally 'without paideia', meaning without training, upbringing or discipline. These debates come from people with no real instruction, and they instruct no one. The word also sets up a contrast two verses later, where the Lord's servant is to be 'instructing' (paideuonta) opponents gently (v. 25).

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