לחם

Arabic

Noun

לחם • (transliteration needed) m

1. Judeo-Arabic spelling of لَحْم (laḥm, “meat”)‎‎
   • c. 10th century, Saadia Gaon, Tafsir‎^[1], Numbers 11:4:

     ואללפיף אלד֗ין פימא בינהם תשהו שהוה פרג֗ע בנו אסראיל איצ֗א מעהם ובכו וקאלו מן יטעמנא לחמא

     And the crowd who were among them felt a craving, and the Israelites also wept with them and said, Let us have meat!

Hebrew

Root
ל־ח־ם (l-kh-m)
9 terms

לחם

Pronunciation

• (Biblical Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈlæħæm/, [ˈlæħæm]
• (Tiberian Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛħɛm/, [ˈlɛːħɛm]
• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ˈleχem/

Etymology 1

Cognate with Arabic لَحْم (laḥm, “meat”). The varying semantic developments are due to the differing agriculture and diets of the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent.

Noun

לֶחֶם • (lékhem) m (singular construct לֶחֶם־, Biblical Hebrew pausal form לָחֶם) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. bread
2. (archaic or poetic) food
3. (poetic) grain from which bread is made

Declension

Declension of לֶחֶם

Number	Isolated forms		With possessive pronouns
	State	Form	Person	singular		plural
				m.	f.	m.	f.
singular	indefinite	לֶחֶם	first	לַחֲמִי		לַחֲמֵנוּ
	definite	הַלֶּחֶם	second	לַחֲמְךָ	לַחֲמֵךְ	לֶחֶמְכֶם	לֶחֶמְכֶן
	construct	לֶחֶם־	third	לַחֲמוֹ	לַחֲמָהּ	לַחֲמָם	לַחֲמָן

Derived terms

• בֵּית לֶחֶם (bet lékhem)
• לֶחֶם מִשְׁנֶה (lékhem mishné)
• לחמנייה / לַחְמָנִיָּה (lakhmaniyá)

Etymology 2

Noun

לָחֶם • (lákhem) m

1. combat, battle

Verb

לָחַם • (lakhám)

1. to fight

Related terms

• לׇחְמָה / לוחמה (lokhmá, “warfare”)

Etymology 3

Noun

לַחַם • (lákham) m

1. solder (metal used for welding)

References

• H3899 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Klein, Ernest (1987) “לֶחֶם”, in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English‎^[2], Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 298b
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903) A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 704a
• “לחם” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

Anagrams

• חלם, חמל, מלח