Greek word · G660

ἀποτινάσσω

apotinassō

to shake off

To shake something off, to brush it away with a shake. The word is literal and physical.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

ἀπο-τινάσσω

[in LXX: Judges 16:20 A (נָעַר ni.), 1 Samuel 10:2 (נָטַשׁ), Lamentations 2:7 (נָאַר pi.) * ;]

to shake of: Luke 9:5, Acts 28:5.†

(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 shake something off, to brush it away with a shake. The word is literal and physical.
Against the English: English versions all say 'shook off' and are accurate. What gets lost is the verbal link to Luke 9:5.
Used elsewhere in the period: It is used in classical and later Greek for shaking off dust, fire or vermin. In the NT it appears only twice, both times in Luke's writings: Luke 9:5, 'shake off the dust from your feet', and here.

Range of meaning: To shake off, to shake something away from oneself completely. The ἀπο- prefix ("away, off") strengthens τινάσσω ("to shake").
Against the English: "Shake off" is accurate. The trouble is that English has a later idiom, "shake it off", meaning to get over a disappointment (see drift).
How it drifted: The modern English idioms "shake the dust off your feet" and "shake it off" have come to mean moving on emotionally, which turns a public sign into an inner attitude.
Used elsewhere in the period: New Testament: here and Acts 28:5 (Paul shakes the viper off into the fire), a vivid, deliberate flinging away. Lam 2:7 in some Greek traditions. Compare the related gesture in Neh 5:13 (LXX ἐκτινάσσω), where Nehemiah shakes out the fold of his garment: "So may God shake out every man who does not keep this promise." That is a public oath-curse acted out. Acts 13:51 and 18:6 use ἐκτινάσσω for the apostles' own dust and garment gestures.

Luke · 1

Luke 9:5 ἀποτινάσσετε do shake off

If anyone does not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that town, as a testimony against them.”

Here: A command: shake off completely. The only other New Testament use is Acts 28:5, where Paul shakes a viper off his hand into the fire. It is a decisive, visible shaking away.

Acts · 1

Acts 28:5 ἀποτινάξας having shaken off

But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

Here: An aorist participle, describing a single quick action done before the main verb. Paul simply flicks the snake off his hand. It is the same verb Luke uses for shaking dust off the feet in Luke 9:5.

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