Quick Definition
παιδαγωγός, οῦ, ὁ n.m. a boy’s guardian or tutor
Strong's Definition
from 3816 and a reduplicated form of 71; a boy-leader, i.e. a servant whose office it was to take the children to school; (by implication, (figuratively) a tutor ("paedagogue"))
KJV Usage: instructor, schoolmaster
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, m. | -οῦ | παίζω + ἄγω
36.5 · Guide, Discipline, Follow · Guide, Lead
guardian, leader, guide a person who guides, directs, and shows concern for It may be difficult to render appropriately ἐπίτροπος[b] and παιδαγωγός with a combined meaning of guiding and caring for. It may, in fact, be necessary in some instances to use two verbal expressions, for example, ‘to guide and to help’ or ‘to help by leading’ or ‘to care for by leading.’
In classical times, a παιδαγωγός was a man, usually a slave, whose task it was to conduct a boy to and from school and to supervise and direct his general conduct. He was not a teacher.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
παιδαγωγός, -οῦ, ὁ, (fr. mais, and ἀγωγός a leader, escort), fr. Hdt. 8, 75 down; a tutor (Lat. paedagogus) i. e. a guide and guardian of boys. Among the Greeks and Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood; ef. Fischer 5. v. in index i. to Aeschin. dial. Socr.; Hermann, Griech. Privatalterthiimer, ὃ 34, 15 sqq.; [Smith, Dict. of Grk. and Rom. Antiq. s. v.; Becker, Charicles (Eng. trans. 4th ed.), p. 226 sq.]. They are distinguished from of διδάσκαλοι : Xen. de rep. Lae. 8, 2; Plat. Lys. p. 208 ο.; Diog. Laért. 3,92. The name carries with it an idea of severity (as of a stern censor and enforcer of morals) in 1 Co. iv. 15, where the father is distinguished from the tutor as one whose discipline is usually milder, and in Gal. iii. 24 sq. where the Mosaic law is likened to a tutor because it arouses the consciousness of sin, and is called παιδαγωγὸς εἰς Χριστόν, i. e. preparing the soul for Christ, because those wlio have learned by experience with the law that they are not and cannot be commended to God by their works, welcome the more eagerly the hope of salvation offered them through the death and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
παιδαγωγός paidagōgos 3x
a pedagogue, childtender, a person, usually a slave or freedman, to whom the care of the boys of a family was committed, whose duty it was to attend them at their play, lead them to and from the public school, and exercise a constant superintendence over their conduct and safety; in NT an ordinary director or minister contrasted with an Apostle, as a pedagogue occupies an inferior position to a parent, 1 Cor. 4:15; a term applied to the Mosaic law, as dealing with men as in a state of mere childhood and tutelage, Gal. 3:24, 25*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
* παιδαγωγός, -οῦ, ὁ
(< παῖς, ἄγω),
a guide, guardian, trainer of boys, a tutor (disting. from διδάσκαλος, Xen., Lac., 3, 1), usually a trusty slave: opp. to πατήρ, I Co 4:15; fig., of the Law, π. εἰς Χριστόν, Ga 3:24, 25.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
παιδαγωγός. In P Oxy VI. 930 (ii/iii A.D.) a mother writes to her son regarding his education,!8™ μελησάτω σοί τε καὶ To παιδαγωγῷ σου καθήκοντι καθηγητῷ σε παραβάλλειν, ‘let it be the care both of you and your attendant that you go to a suitable teacher,” and concludes,7®* ἄσπασαι τὸν τειμιώτατον παιδαγωγόν σου "Epwra, ‘‘salute your highly esteemed attendant Eros.” The passage is of importance as showing the p sition which the παιδαγωγός frequently occupied. He did not merely conduct the boy to school, but had a general charge of him as a tutor in the old sense of the word, until he reached maturity: cf. Gal 374 with Burton’s note in JCC ad Δ, and Clem. Paed. i. 1 where the ‘‘ethical’’ aspect of the παιδαγωγός is specially affirmed. In Artem. p. 7413 the word is associated with τροφός. The verb παιδαγωγέω occurs in P Oxy III. 471117 (ii/A.D.). For a subst. παιδικωρός, ‘‘ keeper of children,” cf. BGU II. 594 (a.p. 70-80), where it appears under the form πατικουρας: cf. the note in Olsson, Papyrusbriefe, p. 134.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
παιδαγωγός (paidagōgos) — guardian. παιδᾰγωγ-ός, ὁ, ={παιδὸς ἀγωγός}, slave who went with a boy from home to school and back again, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; with διδάσκαλος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Phoenix, as the π. of Achilles, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Fabius is called the π. of Hannibal, because he always followed him about, [Refs 1st c.AD+] has guided us until attainment of faith in Christ, [NT]: generally, leader, δημοκρατίας, τυραννίδος, [Refs 1st c.AD+]