H2461 H2461
Milk; by extension cheese or curds; metonymically a suckling infant; also a proper name (Huram).
One of the most evocative staple-food terms in the Hebrew Bible, denoting fresh milk as a basic nourishment and a powerful symbol of abundance. The recurring phrase 'a land flowing with milk and honey' (Exod 3:8 and over a dozen parallels) anchors the promise of plenty in tangible, pastoral imagery. Cognates across Semitic languages confirm its primary sense: Arabic ḥalīb, Aramaic ḥalbā, and Ethiopic ḥalīb all mean fresh milk. Beyond the literal, the word stretches to cover processed dairy (cheese at 1 Sam 17:18, where the Spanish 'la leche' still renders it as milk, while English specifies 'cheese'), a nursing infant by metonymy (1 Sam 7:9), and even a personal name, Huram (2 Chr 4:11).
Senses
1. milk — The primary and overwhelmingly dominant sense: fresh milk as a food product and symbol of fertility and divine provision. It appears in the patriarchal narratives (Gen 18:8, where Abraham serves milk alongside curds to his guests) and saturates the covenant vocabulary through the phrase 'land flowing with milk and honey.' The distinction from ḥem'ah (curds/butter) is carefully maintained in poetry (Judg 5:25; Prov 30:33), though the two can stand in parallel. Spanish 'leche,' French 'lait,' and German 'Milch' uniformly confirm the basic meaning across our multilingual evidence. 42×
AR["الحَلِيبِ","حَليباً","حَليبٍ","حَلِيبًا","لَبَنًا"]·ben["দুধ","দুধের"]·DE["Milch","[חלב]"]·EN["milk"]·FR["graisse","lait","חלב"]·heb["חלב"]·HI["दूध","दूध-का","दूध-से"]·ID["susu"]·IT["latte","milk"]·jav["susu"]·KO["우유-를","우유를","젖","젖과","젖으로"]·PT["de-leite","leite"]·RU["молока","молоко","молоком"]·ES["leche"]·SW["maziwa"]·TR["sut","süt","sütün"]·urd["دودھ","دودھ-سے","دودھ-کا"]
2. cheese, curds — A specialized dairy sense denoting cheese or a curdled milk product, attested at 1 Sam 17:18 where David carries 'ten cuts of cheese' to the army commander. The multilingual glosses diverge instructively here: English renders 'the cheese,' while Spanish retains 'la leche,' suggesting translators sometimes assimilate this to the generic milk sense. BDB notes that ḥem'ah is elsewhere 'produced from' ḥālāb (Prov 30:33), making this a natural semantic extension from raw milk to its processed derivative. 1×
AR["الجُبْنِ"]·ben["দুধের"]·DE["der-cheese"]·EN["the-cheese"]·FR["le-cheese"]·heb["ה-חלב"]·HI["पनिर-के"]·ID["keju"]·IT["il-cheese"]·jav["-susu"]·KO["그-우유의"]·PT["o-leite"]·RU["молока"]·ES["la-leche"]·SW["ya-maziwa"]·TR["peynir"]·urd["پنیر-کے"]
3. suckling, nursing child — A metonymic use designating a suckling or nursing infant — literally 'one of milk' — attested at 1 Sam 7:9, where Samuel offers a nursing lamb as a burnt offering. French 'allaitant' (nursing) and Spanish 'de leche' (of milk) capture the metonymy directly, treating the substance as a marker of the creature's developmental stage. This sense relies on the close association between milk and dependent young life. 1×
AR["رَضِيعًا"]·ben["দুধখাওয়া"]·DE["suckling"]·EN["suckling"]·FR["allaitant"]·heb["חלב"]·HI["दूध-पीता"]·ID["yang-menyusu"]·IT["suckling"]·jav["susu"]·KO["젖-먹는"]·PT["mamante"]·RU["молочного"]·ES["de-leche"]·SW["anayenyonya"]·TR["süt-emen"]·urd["دودھ-پینے-والا"]
4. Huram (proper name) — An apparently unrelated proper name, Huram (or Churam), occurring at 2 Chr 4:11 in reference to the Tyrian craftsman. The multilingual glosses — English '(Churam),' Spanish 'Juram,' French and German 'Huram' — confirm this is treated as a personal name rather than a common noun. Its homographic overlap with the milk word is likely coincidental, and some scholars treat it as a separate lexical entry entirely. 1×
AR["(حِيرَامُ)"]·ben["হূরাম"]·DE["Huram"]·EN["(Churam)"]·FR["Huram"]·heb["חלב"]·HI["हूराम"]·ID["Huram"]·IT["Huram"]·jav["Huram"]·KO["(후람)"]·PT["Huram"]·RU["Хурам"]·ES["Juram"]·SW["Huramu"]·urd["(حورام)-نے"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† חָלָב n.m. milk (NH id. (and vb. denom.); Aramaic חַלְבָּא, ܚܰܠܒܳܐ, Ph. חלב; Arabic حَليبٌ n. fresh milk, حَلَبَ vb. milk; Assyrian alibu, milk, v. DlPr 174; Ethiopic ሐሊብ )—ח׳ abs. Gn 18:18 + 35 times + Ez 34:3 (v. infr.); cstr. חֲלֵב Ex 23:19 + 5 times; sf. חֲלָבִי Ct 5:1, חֲלָבֵךְ Ez 25:4;—milk: a. as common food Gn 18:8 (J; distinct from חֶמְאָה curd, q.v.), חֲלֵב צֹאן Dt 32:14 (poet.;…