1. vinegar, sour wine — Sour or fermented wine used as a condiment or drink, attested in both literal and simile contexts (Prov 10:26 'like vinegar to the teeth'). Multilingual evidence is uniform: Spanish 'vinagre,' Arabic خلّ (khall), Korean 식초/초, Hindi सिरका (sirka), Swahili 'siki.' All three clusters represent the same substance in different grammatical frames — bare noun, construct state with 'of,' and prepositional 'in the vinegar' — none indicating a distinct semantic sense. 6×
AR["خَلٌّ","خَلَّ","خَلّاً","فِي-الْخَلِّ","كَالْخَلِّ","وَ-خَلَّ"]·ben["এবং-সিরকা","যেমন-সিরকা","সিরকা","সিরকা।","সেই-সিরকায়"]·DE["[בחמץ]","[חמץ]","[כחמץ]","und-vinegar-von","vinegar","vinegar-von"]·EN["and-vinegar-of","in-the-vinegar","like-vinegar","vinegar","vinegar-of"]·FR["dans-le-vinaigre","et-vinegar-de","vinaigre","vinegar-de","חמץ","כחמץ"]·heb["ב-חומץ","ו-חמץ","חומץ","חמץ","כ-חומץ"]·HI["और-सिरका","जैसे-सिरका","सिरका","सिरके-में"]·ID["Seperti-cuka","cuka","dalam-cuka","dan-cuka"]·IT["[חמץ]","come-il-like-vinegar","e-vinegar-di","in-il-vinegar","vinegar","vinegar-di"]·jav["cuka","ing-cuka","kados-cuka","lan-cuka"]·KO["그리고-초","식초-같다","식초-를","식초이요","에-그-초","초"]·PT["Como-vinagre","e-vinagre-de","no-vinagre","vinagre","vinagre-de"]·RU["в-уксус","и-уксус","как-уксус","уксус","уксусом"]·ES["como-vinagre","en-el-vinagre","vinagre","vinagre-de","y-vinagre-de"]·SW["Hmts","Uhmts","kama-siki","katika-siki","siki"]·TR["-sirkeye","gibi-sirke","sirke","sirkesini","ve-sirkesini"]·urd["اور-سرکہ","سرکہ","سرکہ-جیسے","میں-سرکے"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† חֹ֫מֶץ n.m. vinegar—ח׳ abs. Pr 10:26 + 3 times; cstr. Nu 6:3(×2);—a common condiment Ru 2:14, forbidden to Nazirite (ח׳ יין and ח׳ שֵׁכָר) Nu 6:3(×2) (P), offered (in cruelty) to a thirsty man ψ 69:22 (fig. for harshness, lack of sympathy); in sim. of sluggard כַּחֹמֶץ לַשִּׁנַּיִם Pr 10:26, ח׳ עַל־נָ֑תֶר Pr 25:20 vinegar on nitre (sim. of merry songs for the heavy-hearted).