G1404 — δράκων (drákōn)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G1404
Original: δράκων
Transliteration: drákōn
Pronunciation: drak'-own
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: from an alternate form of δέρκομαι (dérkomai) — to look; the creature known for its keen sight
Occurrences: 12 unique verses (13 tokens) — exclusively in Revelation
First Occurrence: Rev 12:3 — "and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From an alternate form of δέρκομαι (dérkomai, to look); a fabulous kind of serpent — a dragon. KJV translation: dragon (13x).

Semantic Domains¶

Louw-Nida: - 004004 — Reptiles and Other "Creeping Things"

The lexical domain is zoological, even though Revelation uses the creature symbolically and apocalyptically.

UBS Semantic Domains: - [004] Animals

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
dragon	11	91.7%
a dragon	1	8.3%

100% translated as "dragon" — the most lexically constrained Greek word in the NT.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Revelation	12	3.0

Exclusive to Revelation; concentrated in chapters 12–13, 16, and 20.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Identified with Satan, the Devil, and the ancient serpent¶

The dragon is explicitly equated with the devil, Satan, and the Eden serpent by the text itself.

Rev 12:9 — "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world"
Rev 20:2 — "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years"

2. Heavenly adversary with apocalyptic form¶

The dragon appears with symbolic features — seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns — and initiates cosmic warfare.

Rev 12:3 — "behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads"
Rev 12:4 — "his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth"
Rev 12:7 — "there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels"

3. Persecutor of the woman and her seed¶

After being cast to earth, the dragon actively persecutes the woman and makes war on her offspring.

Rev 12:13 — "when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child"
Rev 12:16 — "the earth... swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth"
Rev 12:17 — "the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God"

4. Source of the beast's power and object of worship¶

The dragon delegates authority to the first beast; humanity worships the dragon through the beast.

Rev 13:2 — "the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority"
Rev 13:4 — "they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?"
Rev 13:11 — "another beast coming up out of the earth... he spake as a dragon"

5. Channel of deception through unclean spirits¶

The dragon's mouth is a source of deceptive spirits in the final conflict.

Rev 16:13 — "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
γῆ (earth/land)	G1093	5x (42%)	dragon cast to earth; persecutes from earth
θηρίον (beast)	G2342	4x (33%)	dragon empowers the beast; beast likened to dragon
γυνή (woman)	G1135	4x (33%)	dragon vs. the woman (Rev 12)
βάλλω (cast)	G906	4x (33%)	dragon cast down; dragon casts flood
ὅμοιος (like)	G3664	4x (33%)	beast described as "like" dragon in speech/form
στόμα (mouth)	G4750	3x (25%)	flood cast from dragon's mouth; unclean spirits from mouth
μέγας (great)	G3173	3x (25%)	"the great dragon"
οὐρανός (heaven)	G3772	3x (25%)	war in heaven; dragon cast from heaven
ἐξουσία (authority)	G1849	2x (17%)	dragon gives authority to beast
ἀρχαῖος (ancient/old)	G744	2x (17%)	"that old serpent" — linking dragon to Eden
διάβολος (devil)	G1228	2x (17%)	explicit identification: dragon = devil
ὄφις (serpent)	G3789	2x (17%)	explicit identification: dragon = old serpent
κέρας (horn)	G2768	2x (17%)	ten horns of the dragon (Rev 12:3)
πολεμέω (make war)	G4170	2x (17%)	dragon makes war against angels, against the remnant

Word Family / Cognates¶

δέρκομαι (dérkomai) — root verb: to look, to see; not used in NT but provides etymology

Synonyms¶

G785 ἀσπίς (aspis) — asp; another serpent/reptile term returned by search_relationships.py

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G1404.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
תַּנִּין (tannîyn)	H8577	both "dragon" in KJV	H8577 = OT serpent/sea monster (literal and figurative); G1404 = NT apocalyptic adversary figure in Revelation only
ὄφις (ophis)	G3789	both "serpent" in some contexts	G3789 = general term for snake/serpent (13 NT verses across gospels and epistles); G1404 = specifically the Revelation adversary (12 verses, all Revelation)

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 004004)¶

Strong's	Word	Transliteration	Verses	Primary KJV
G785	ἀσπίς	aspis	1	asp
G944	βάτραχος	batrachos	1	frog
G2062	ἑρπετόν	herpeton	4	creeping thing, serpent
G2191	ἔχιδνα	echidna	5	viper
G3789	ὄφις	ophis	13	serpent
G4651	σκορπίος	skorpios	4	scorpion
G4663	σκώληξ	skolex	3	worm

Note: ὄφις (G3789) is the closest semantic neighbor in NT usage — it appears 13x (vs. δράκων's 12x) and is explicitly equated with the dragon at Rev 12:9 and 20:2.

Hebrew Source¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
תַּנִּין (tannîyn)	H8577	13	22.35	Primary OT equivalent — great serpent, sea monster
לִוְיָתָן (livyâthân)	H3882	4	14.72	Secondary — the mythic sea creature Leviathan
נָחָשׁ (nâchâsh)	H5175	3	8.66	Occasional — the Eden serpent

The primary LXX bridge is H8577 tannîyn → δράκων. Note that H8577 also renders as θηρίον (beast) in some LXX passages, making the dragon/beast conflation linguistically grounded.