1. span (unit of measurement) — A unit of linear measurement (זֶרֶת) equal to approximately half a cubit (about 22-23 cm), the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is spread. Used for measuring the breastplate of the high priest (Exod 28:16; 39:9), Goliath's height description (1 Sam 17:4), and God's measuring of the heavens (Isa 40:12). Multilingual evidence is uniform: eng 'span', spa 'palmo', hin 'बित्ता/बालिश्त', arb 'شِبْر', kor '뼘', swa 'shibiri/shubiri'. The prepositional form (בַּזֶּרֶת 'with a span') is an inflectional variant of the same measurement noun. 7×
AR["بِ-الشِّبْرِ","شِبراً","شِبْرٌ","وَ-شِبراً","وَ-شِبْرٌ"]·ben["এবং-এক-বিত্তা","এবং-বিঘত","বিঘত","বিঘতে"]·DE["Spanne","[בזרת]","[זרת]","und-Spanne","und-ein-span"]·EN["and-a-span","and-span","span","with-a-span"]·FR["[בזרת]","empan","et-empan","et-un-span","nombre"]·heb["ב-ה-זרת","ו-זרת","זרת"]·HI["और-एक-बलिशत","और-बालिश्त","और-बित्ता","बालिश्त","बित्ता","से-बालिश्त"]·ID["dan-sejengkal","dengan-jengkal","sejengkal"]·IT["[בזרת]","[זרת]","e-span","e-un-span","span"]·jav["jengkal","kalayan-jengkal","lan-jengkal","lan-sajengkal","sajengkal"]·KO["그리고-뷘","그리고-뾰","그리고-한-뼘","뷘","뼘으로","뾰","한-물의"]·PT["com-o-palmo","e-palmo","e-um-palmo","palmo"]·RU["и-пядь","пядь","пядью"]·ES["con-el-palmo","palmo","y-palmo","y-un-palmo"]·SW["kwa-shubiri","na-shibiri","na-shubiri","shibiri","shubiri"]·TR["karisle","karış","ve-bir-karış","ve-karış"]·urd["اور-ایک-بالشت۔","اور-بالشت","بالشت","بالشت-سے"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† זֶ֫רֶת n.f. span (NH id. (𝔗 זַרְתָּא, Syriac ܙܰܪܬܳܐ; appar. from Heb.), etym. dub.; Thes and most der. from √ זרה, vid. Ol§ 146 b but also Sta§ 187 a; Ba ZMG 1887, 607 proposes √ זרה measure off, determine, cf. p. 280)—span, as standard of measurement, שָׁמַיִם בַּז׳ תִּכֵּן Is 40:12; elsewhere of actual size, a span, distance between ends of thumb and little finger of spread hand; = ½ cubit…