G5250 — ὑπερπλεονάζω (huperpleonazo)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G5250
Original: ὑπερπλεονάζω
Transliteration: huperpleonazo
Pronunciation: hoop-er-pleh-on-ad'-zo
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Compound of ὑπέρ (huper, G5228 — "over, above, beyond") + πλεονάζω (pleonazo, G4121 — "to abound, increase")
Occurrences: 1 in NT (1 token)
First Occurrence: 1 Tim 1:14 — "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
Hapax Legomenon: YES — this verb appears only once in the entire Bible

Lexicon Definition¶

From G5228 (huper) and G4121 (pleonazo); to superabound: — be exceeding abundant.

The prefix ὑπέρ intensifies the already-augmentative verb πλεονάζω ("to have more, increase"), producing a double-intensified sense: to overflow beyond all measure.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 59 — Quantity
Subdomain: 59.006 — Abundance, Excess, Sparing
Other words in subdomain: ἁδρότης (hadrotes, G100), ἐκχέω (ekcheo, G1632), εὐλογία (eulogia, G2129), περισσεία (perisseia, G4050), περίσσευμα (perisseuma, G4051), περισσεύω (perisseuo, G4052), περισσός (perissos, G4053), πλεονάζω (pleonazo, G4121), πλούσιος (plousios, G4145), πλουσίως (plousios, G4146)

Domain Neighbors (Subdomain 59.006)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total Verses	Primary KJV Translation(s)
G100	ἁδρότης	1	abundance
G1632	ἐκχέω	13	poured out, is shed
G2129	εὐλογία	9	blessing
G4050	περισσεία	4	abundance, abundantly
G4051	περίσσευμα	4	abundance, that was left
G4052	περισσεύω	10	abound, abundance
G4053	περισσός	6	more, more abundant
G4121	πλεονάζω	3	abound, abounded
G4145	πλούσιος	18	rich
G4146	πλουσίως	4	abundantly, richly
G4147	πλουτέω	4	were made rich

Morphological Data¶

Form	Reference	Parsing
ὑπερεπλεόνασεν	1 Tim 1:14	Aorist Active Indicative, 3rd Person Singular

The aorist tense presents the superabounding of grace as a single, decisive, completed event — not a gradual process but a definitive overflow.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
was exceeding abundant	1	100%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
1 Timothy	1	0.9

Appears only in 1 Timothy — Paul's autobiographical testimony of conversion.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Superabundance of Divine Grace¶

1 Tim 1:14 — "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant (huperepleonasen) with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."

This is the sole occurrence. Paul's point is that grace did not merely appear or suffice — it overflowed beyond all calculation. The verb is paired with "with faith and love" (meta pisteos kai agapes), indicating that this superabounding grace brought faith and love in its wake. The context (vv. 12–16) contrasts Paul's former identity as "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious" (v. 13) with the overwhelming grace that transformed him — making him a paradigm case ("a pattern," v. 16) of grace exceeding sin.

Word Family¶

Word	Strong's	POS	Meaning	NT Occurrences
πλεονάζω (pleonazo)	G4121	verb	to abound, increase, be in excess	9
πλείων (pleion)	G4119	adj	more (in quantity, number, or quality)	56
πολύς (polus)	G4183	adj	much, many, great	365
ὑπερπλεονάζω (huperpleonazo)	G5250	verb	to superabound	1

Parallel ὑπέρ-Compounds (Abundance Group)¶

Word	Strong's	Meaning	NT Occurrences	Key Passage
ὑπερπερισσεύω (huperperisseuo)	G5248	to super-abound, abound much more	2	Rom 5:20, 2 Cor 7:4
ὑπερπερισσῶς (huperperissos)	G5249	superabundantly, beyond measure	1	Mark 7:37

Romans 5:20 parallel: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound (pleonazo, G4121). But where sin abounded (pleonazo), grace did much more abound (huperperisseuo, G5248)."

This is the closest conceptual parallel. Paul uses the simpler root pleonazo for sin's increase, then the ὑπέρ-compound huperperisseuo for grace's overflow. In 1 Tim 1:14, Paul goes further — choosing the even rarer huperpleonazo (combining ὑπέρ with pleonazo itself rather than with perisseuo) for an intensification of the same theme applied to his personal experience.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Concept	Key Difference
πλεονάζω (pleonazo)	G4121	abound/increase	Standard verb for increasing or abounding; no ὑπέρ intensifier
περισσεύω (perisseuo)	G4052	abound/overflow	Most common NT "abound" verb (39x); used of both surplus and spiritual growth
ὑπερπερισσεύω (huperperisseuo)	G5248	super-abound	Parallel ὑπέρ-compound using perisseuo base instead of pleonazo; 2 NT uses

The three "abound" verbs form a scale: perisseuo (standard overflow) → pleonazo (increase/be in excess) → huper-compounds (overflow beyond measure). Paul coined or selected huperpleonazo for 1 Tim 1:14 when even huperperisseuo (used in Rom 5:20) was insufficient to capture what grace did for him as "chief of sinners."

Hebrew Source¶

No Hebrew source found — this word does not appear in the LXX.