From piptō (G4098, to fall). Ptōma means a fallen body, a corpse, a carcass — the body of the fallen. Used in Matthew and Mark for the body of John the Baptist, in Revelation for the bodies of the two witnesses, and in Matthew 24:28 as a metaphor for judgment.
The word ptōma carries the stark weight of mortality and divine judgment. Matthew 24:28 contains Jesus' cryptic saying: 'Wherever there is a carcass (ptōma), there the vultures will gather.' This is an apocalyptic image of inevitable judgment — wherever spiritual or moral death accumulates, divine judgment descends like vultures to a fallen body. Revelation 11:8-9 uses ptōma for the bodies of the two witnesses lying unburied in Jerusalem — their ptōmata the target of public humiliation. But then (v. 11) the breath of life enters them and they stand up — ptōma reversal is the ultimate Easter image: from fallen corpse to resurrected witness. The ptōma of Calvary — the body of Jesus — was laid in a sealed tomb. Three days later that ptōma was nowhere to be found, because the One who fell rose again. Every ptōma in Scripture points toward the empty tomb.