ἀγενής, (εος ((οῦς), ὁ, ἡ (γένος), opposed to εὐγενής, of no family, a man of base birth, a man of no name or reputation; often used by secular writers, also in the secondary sense ignoble, cowardly, mean, base. In the N. T. only in 1Co_1:28, τά ἀγενῆ τοῦ κόσμου i. e. those who among men are held of no account; on the use of a neuter adjective in reference to persons, see Winers grammar, 178 (167); (Buttmann, 122 (107)).

ἀγενής agenēs 1x lit., without kin; fig., base, low, insignificant, 1Co_1:28

* ἀγενής -ές , ( <γένος ), 1. unborn ( Plat .); 2. of no family, ignoble, base ( opp . to ἀγαθός , Soph ., Fr., 105): opp . to εὐγενής , 1Co_1:20 (for exx . from Papyri, v. MM , VGT , s.v. ).†

ἀγενής [page 3] Ἀγενής , as opposed to εὐγενής , is well illustrated by P Oxy I. 33 v. 5 (late ii/A.D.) where, in a dramatic interview with the Emperor, in all probability M. Aurelius though Wilcken ( Chrest. I. p. 34 f.) decides for Commodus a certain Appianus, who had been condemned to death, appeals to his nobility (εὐγένεια ) in such a way as to lead the Emperor to retort Φῂς οὖν ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἀγενεῖς ἐσμεν ; For the more general sense of mean, base, see the verso of the illiterate P Oxy I. 79 .3 (not earlier than ii/A.D.), perhaps a school composition (Edd.), μηδὲν ταπινὸν μηδὲ ἀγενὲς . . . πράξῃς . In Syll 855 .11 (a dialect inscr. from Delphi, recording the sale of a slave to the god for freedom ii/B.C.) εἰ δέ τι Μνασὼ (the slave) πάθοι ἀγενὴς ὑπάρχουσα , τὰ καταλειφθέντα ὑπὸ Μνασῶς Ἀγησιβούλας (the mistress) ἔστω : here ἀγενής must mean childless, as in the similar phrase in Syll 862 .22 , an inscr. of the same period, place and subject. The word was used in this sense by Isaeus, according to Harpocration.

ἀγενής, -ές (γένος), __1. unborn (Plat.); __2. of no family, ignoble, base (opposite to ἀγαθός, Soph., Fr., 105): opposite to εὐγενής, 1Co.1:28 (for exx. from π., see MM, VGT, see word). † (AS)