Greek word · G5253

ὑπερῷον

hyperōon

upper room

The upper storey of a house, an upstairs room or roof chamber. In Homer it is the upstairs women's quarters, and later it is any room above the ground floor. These rooms were often cooler and more private, and they could be large enough for gatherings.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

ὑπερῷον, -ου, τό

(neut. of ὑπερῷος, above, ὑπέρ) [in LXX for עֲלִיָּה and cogn. forms ;]

1. in cl., the upper story or upper rooms where the women resided (Hom., a1.).

2. In LXX and NT, an upper chamber, roof-chamber, built on the flat roof of the house (see DB, iii, 674a): Acts 1:13 9:37, 39 20:8 (cf. 2 Kings 23:22).†

(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 Acts 9:37

Range of meaning: The upper storey of a house, an upstairs room or roof chamber. In Homer it is the upstairs women's quarters, and later it is any room above the ground floor. These rooms were often cooler and more private, and they could be large enough for gatherings.
Against the English: "Upper room" / "upper chamber" / "upstairs room" are all accurate. The risk is that English readers hear 'The Upper Room', the special room of the Last Supper and of Pentecost. In fact Mark and Luke use a different word (ἀνάγαιον) for the Last Supper room. Here it is simply a room in a Joppa house.
How it drifted: Christian devotional usage made 'the Upper Room' a fixed sacred phrase.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), ὑπερῷον translates Hebrew עֲלִיָּה (ʿaliyyah, roof chamber). Elijah carries the widow's dead son 'up to the upper room' and lays him on his own bed (1 Kings/3 Kingdoms 17:19, 23). The Shunammite woman builds Elisha a roof chamber (2 Kings/4 Kingdoms 4:10), and her dead son is laid on Elisha's bed there (4:21). In the New Testament only Luke uses the word: Acts 1:13; 9:37, 39; 20:8.

From the study of Acts 9:39

Range of meaning: An upper room or roof chamber: a room built on the flat roof or upper level of a house, reached by stairs. It was often used for guests, privacy or gatherings.
Against the English: 'Upper room' or 'upper chamber' is accurate. Readers sometimes link it with the Last Supper room, but that room has a different word in the Gospels (anagaion, Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12), and nothing connects the two.
Used elsewhere in the period: Acts 1:13 (where the disciples stayed in Jerusalem); 9:37, 39; 20:8–9 (Troas, where Eutychus fell and Paul restored him). LXX 1 Kings (3 Kingdoms) 17:19: Elijah carries the widow's dead son 'into the upper room' and raises him. 2 Kings 4:10–11, 21: the Shunammite's roof chamber for Elisha, where she lays her dead son and Elisha raises him.

From the study of Acts 1:13

Range of meaning: An upper storey, an upstairs room, or a chamber on or under the roof of a house. Usually a private room set apart from the busy ground floor: used for lodging guests, laying out the dead, prayer, or meetings.
Against the English: 'Upper room' is accurate. The trouble is that English readers hear 'the Upper Room' as a proper name for one famous place, the room of the Last Supper and, in popular imagination, of Pentecost. KJV's 'an upper room' loses the Greek article, while BSB/ESV/WEB's 'the upper room' can suggest a room readers should already know about.
How it drifted: The Latin Vulgate translated both this word and Luke's different word for the Last Supper room (ἀνάγαιον, anagaion, Luke 22:12) as cenaculum. This helped merge the two into one 'Cenacle'. Later pilgrim tradition placed that Cenacle on Mount Zion.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) it is the roof room the widow of Zarephath gave Elijah (1 Kgs 17:19), the room built for Elisha in Shunem (2 Kgs 4:10), and the room where Daniel prayed three times a day with windows open toward Jerusalem (Dan 6:10). Elsewhere in Acts it is the room where Tabitha's body was laid (9:37, 39) and the third-floor room in Troas where Paul taught until midnight (20:8–9). Greek writers from Homer on use it for the upper quarters of a house.

Similar words

Where it appears

Acts · 4

Acts 1:13 ὑπερῷον upper room

When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

Here: A room on the upper storey or roof level of a house. Greek-speaking Jews knew it as the kind of room where Elijah, Elisha and Daniel stayed and prayed. It is a different word from the 'large upper room' of the Last Supper (Luke 22:12).
Acts 9:37 ὑπερῴῳ. an upper room.

At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.

Here: An upstairs room or roof chamber of the house. There is no article ("an upper room"), so this is simply a room in the home. It also recalls the upper rooms where Elijah and Elisha raised dead children.
Acts 9:39 ὑπερῷον, upper room,

So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Here: A room built on the flat roof or upper storey of a house. To biblically literate hearers it recalls the upper rooms where Elijah and Elisha raised dead sons (1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 4:10, 21).
Acts 20:8 ὑπερῴῳ upper room

Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

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