From tapeinos (lowly) + phrēn (mind) — humility, lowliness of mind, a modest estimation of oneself. In the Greco-Roman world, humility was despised as servile. Christianity revolutionized it as a supreme virtue, modeled by Christ Himself.
Philippians 2:3-8 is the definitive text: 'In humility consider others more important than yourselves... Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself.' Christ's incarnation is the ultimate act of tapeinophrosynē. Paul, Peter, and James all command it. 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble' (James 4:6). Humility is not self-deprecation but Christ-like other-orientation.