From G2209 (zēmia, damage). To cause or experience loss or forfeiture. Used by Jesus and Paul for ultimate profit-and-loss.
Zēmioō frames the gospel's most devastating cost-benefit analysis. Jesus: 'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' (Mark 8:36). Paul counts everything as loss compared to knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8). The person who loses everything for Christ has lost nothing.