ψωμ-ίον G5596
A morsel or small piece of bread, especially one dipped and handed to another at a meal.
Derived from the Greek psōmos (a bite or mouthful), this diminutive form refers to a small piece of bread. In the New Testament it appears exclusively in the Upper Room narrative of John 13, where Jesus dips a morsel and offers it to Judas Iscariot. The act of sharing a morsel carried deep significance in Near Eastern dining customs, making the betrayal all the more poignant. Every language renders it with a term for a small food portion — Spanish bocado, French morceau, German Bissen — all preserving the intimacy of the gesture.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A small piece of bread or food, specifically one dipped and shared at a communal meal. All four occurrences cluster in John 13:26-30, where Jesus identifies his betrayer by dipping the morsel (psōmion) and handing it to Judas. The multilingual evidence uniformly renders this as a single bite-sized portion — English 'morsel,' Spanish 'bocado,' French 'morceau' — highlighting the table-fellowship context that makes the betrayal so jarring. 4×
AR["لُقْمَةَ", "لُقْمَةِ"]·ben["রুটির-টুকরো"]·DE["Bissen"]·EN["morsel"]·FR["morceau"]·heb["פַּת"]·HI["टुकड़ा", "टुकड़े"]·ID["roti"]·IT["psomion"]·jav["roti-potongan,"]·KO["조각", "조각을"]·PT["bocado"]·RU["куска", "кусок"]·ES["bocado"]·SW["kipande"]·TR["lokma", "lokmayı"]·urd["نوالہ", "نوالے-کے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ψωμ-ίον, τό, diminutive of ψωμός, of a bun for a crocodile, NT+2nd c.BC+.