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50 free Seven Deadly Sins trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The seven deadly sins are not in the Bible. They were whittled down from a desert monk's list of eight temptations, translated into Latin, and fixed at seven by Pope Gregory I in 590, who added envy and decided pride was the worst of the lot. Since then the list has organised a mountain in Dante, a circular panel in the Prado, a Brecht and Weill ballet, a Canterbury tale and one very dark David Fincher film. These 50 questions move from theology to pop culture: the Latin names, Aquinas's five ways to overeat, which sin men confess most and which women do, the letters on Dante's forehead, Philip II's favourite Bosch, Gandhi's seven social sins, the knights of Nakaba Suzuki's manga and the homunculi of Fullmetal Alchemist. Easy ones ask which sin is hubris; hard ones ask who wrote the Psychomachia. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a pub round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which sin is considered the original and worst of the seven on almost every list?
Pride
It is viewed as the source of the other capital sins and the opposite of humility.
Q 02Which pope revised the list of deadly sins into its familiar form in AD 590?
Gregory I
He folded sorrow into sloth, vanity into pride, and added envy to make seven.
Q 03Which sin was added in 590 that had not been on the earlier list of eight?
Envy
Its Latin name is invidia; he also merged two pairs of older vices to land on seven.
Q 04How many forms of temptation did the monk Evagrius Ponticus settle on in the fourth century?
Eight
His Greek list of logismoi included sadness and boasting, which later lists merged away.
Q 05Which student of Evagrius carried his list of vices into the Latin West?
John Cassian
Cassian's Latin list included tristitia (sorrow) and vanagloria (vainglory) as separate entries.
Q 06What is the Latin name for the sin of sloth on the old Western list?
Acedia
The word came from a Greek term and originally meant a monk's listless neglect of spiritual duties.
Q 07Which Latin word for a deadly sin means anger?
Ira
Gula is overeating, luxuria is lust and avaritia is greed, so the other three are sins too.
Q 08Which theologian called the seven 'capital sins' because they are the head of all others?
Thomas Aquinas
He defended Gregory's list in the Summa Theologica.
Q 09Which sin is generally thought to be the mildest of the seven?
Lust
Aquinas saw sins of the flesh as less grievous than spiritual sins.
Q 10The word for the sin of overeating comes from a Latin verb meaning what?
To gulp down
One objection to it was that the gorging of the rich could leave the needy hungry.
Q 11How many forms of overindulgence in food did Aquinas list, including eating too soon?
Five
Laute, studiose, nimis, praepropere and ardenter: too expensively, daintily, much, soon and eagerly.
Q 12Aquinas defined which sin as 'sorrow about spiritual good'?
Sloth
Unlike the others, it is a sin of avoiding responsibilities rather than committing an act.
Q 13Which sin is a sad or resentful covetousness toward another person's traits or possessions?
Envy
Bertrand Russell called it one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.
Q 14Which philosopher said envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness?
Q 21According to that 2009 Jesuit study, which sin did women confess most often?
Pride
The researchers could not tell whether the gap reflected behaviour or views about what to confess.
Q 22Which cardinal virtue is NOT one of the four named by Ambrose in the 4th century?
Charity
The three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity were added to make seven heavenly virtues.
Q 23Which virtue is usually paired against lust on the list of seven capital virtues?
Chastity
The remedial virtues run chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience and humility.
Bertrand Russell
He noted it brings sorrow to the envious while urging them to inflict pain on others.
Q 15Which author wrote in Mere Christianity that pride is 'the complete anti-God state of mind'?
C. S. Lewis
He called unchastity, anger and greed 'mere fleabites in comparison'.
Q 16'Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall' comes from which Bible book?
Proverbs
The shortened 'pride goeth before a fall' is from Proverbs 16:18.
Q 17The Greek word hubris is used as another name for which sin?
Pride
In politics it describes leaders who grow irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice.
Q 18Which historical vice, meaning unjustified boasting, was merged into pride in 590?
Vainglory
The Latin gloria roughly meant boasting, and 'vain' once simply meant futile.
Q 19Fourth-century monks blamed the vice later folded into sloth mainly on what state?
Melancholia
The Catechism now defines acedia as spiritual sloth: believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult.
Q 20A 2009 study of confessions found which sin was most commonly confessed by men?
Lust
The same Jesuit study found that women most often confessed to pride.
Q 24Whose 5th-century poem Psychomachia first staged a battle between personified sins and virtues?
Prudentius
Its female combatants did not match the later standard list but popularised the idea.
Q 25In Dante's Purgatorio, how many terraces of Purgatory proper correspond to the sins?
Seven
Each terrace pairs a sin with an appropriate prayer and beatitude as Dante climbs.
Q 26On Dante's first terrace, how are the proud souls punished?
Bent under huge stones
They walk past sculpted examples of humility, starting with the Annunciation.
Q 27What letter does the angel erase from Dante's forehead as he leaves each terrace?
P
It stands for peccatum, the Latin for sin, and climbing grows easier with each one removed.
Q 28Which sin does Dante's fourth terrace purge with souls in ceaseless activity?
Sloth
Having failed to act in pursuit of love in life, the slothful run around the terrace calling out examples of zeal.
Q 29On Dante's fifth terrace, the avaricious and prodigal lie how?
Face-down on the ground
They recite Psalm 119:25, 'My soul cleaveth unto the dust'.
Q 30Which French king personifies greed on Dante's fifth terrace?
Hugh Capet
He bemoans how avarice motivated his successors and 'prophesies' events after the poem's date.