Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 7:2

"and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands." — Mark 7:2 (ASV)

With defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands—the first word means literally common. This came to be associated, as in Acts 10:14, with what was “unclean,” and so, for Jews in any case, the word acquired a new meaning. St. Mark’s Gentile readers, however, were not likely to understand what was meant by “common hands,” and therefore he adds his explanation of “unwashed.”