H2191 H2191
a little, a small amount; used of quantity or brief duration
A diminutive noun meaning 'a little,' occurring in two distinctive contexts. In Isaiah 28:10, 13, it appears in the mocking refrain zĕʿêr šām zĕʿêr šām ('a little here, a little there'), paired with ṣaw and qaw, mimicking the drunkards' perception of prophetic instruction as tedious drip-feeding. In Job 36:2, Elihu asks for 'a little' patience before continuing his argument. The word's compact form suits its meaning: something small, whether in quantity or time.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A small quantity or brief measure, functioning adverbially. In Isaiah 28:10, 13, it conveys incremental smallness in the taunt-refrain 'a little here, a little there,' describing how divine instruction arrives in seemingly trivial fragments. Spanish 'poco' and French 'petit' both capture the diminutive force. In Job 36:2 it denotes a short span of time — 'wait for me a little.' The diminutive morphology mirrors the semantic content of smallness. 5×
AR["قَليلاً", "قَلِيلٌ"]·ben["একটু", "কিছুক্ষণ"]·DE["[זעיר]", "gering"]·EN["a-little"]·FR["petit", "זעיר"]·heb["זעיר", "מעט"]·HI["थोड़ा"]·ID["sedikit"]·IT["insignificante", "un-little"]·jav["sekedhik", "sekedik"]·KO["조금"]·PT["um-pouco"]·RU["немного"]·ES["poco"]·SW["kidogo"]·TR["biraz"]·urd["تھوڑا"]
Related Senses
H3605 1. all, every, whole (5352×)H0259 1. one (cardinal numeral) (940×)H8147 1. cardinal number two (666×)G3956 1. all (collective plural) (616×)H3967 1. cardinal numeral hundred (550×)H1419a 1. great, large (general quality) (486×)H7969 1. cardinal number three (431×)H0505 1. cardinal number thousand (427×)H7651 1. seven (cardinal number) (393×)G1520 1. cardinal number one (339×)H6240 1. ten (cardinal number) (334×)H6242 1. twenty (cardinal number) (315×)H2568 1. cardinal number five (309×)H0702 1. four (cardinal number) (277×)G3956 2. every, each (distributive) (227×)H8337 1. six (cardinal number) (215×)G3956 3. all things, everything (substantive) (211×)G3956 4. (187×)H6235 1. ten (177×)G3173 1. great in size or extent (176×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† זְעֵיר n.[m.] a little (diminutive form Ol§ 180 LagBN 85)— 1. of quantity, amount (of instruction) ז׳ שָׁם ז׳ שָׁם Is 28:10, 13 (in both ‖ צַו, קַו). 2. of time, כַּתַּר־לִי ז׳ וַאֲחַוֶּ֑ךָּ Jb 36:2.