1. cow, heifer — A female bovine, encompassing both the mature 'cow' (פָּרוֹת plural) and the younger 'heifer' (פָּרָה singular) senses, as Hebrew does not sharply distinguish the two. Used of Pharaoh's dream cows in Genesis 41 (fat and lean), the cows pulling the ark cart in 1 Samuel 6, the red heifer of purification in Numbers 19:2-10, Amos 4:1 'cows of Bashan,' Hosea 4:16 Israel compared to a stubborn heifer, Isaiah 11:7 the cow grazing with the bear, and Job 21:10. Multilingual glosses uniformly confirm: Arabic بَقَرَة/بَقَرَات, German Kühe, French vaches, Spanish vacas/vaca, Korean 암소, Hindi गाय/गायें. All inflectional forms (absolute, construct, with suffixes, with prepositions) represent a single lexical sense. 26×
AR["الـ-بَقَرَتَانِ","الـ-بَقَرَتَيْنِ","الْ-بَقَرَاتُ","الْ-بَقَرَاتِ","الْبَقَرَةَ","الْبَقَرَةِ","بَقَراتٍ","بَقَرَاتٍ","بَقَرَتَيْنِ"]·ben["গাভী","গাভীকে","গাভীগুলি","গাভীদের","গাভীর","গাভীরা"]·DE["Kühe","cows","der-cows","der-heifer","die-Kühe"]·EN["cows","the-cows","the-heifer"]·FR["cows","le-cows","le-heifer","le-vaches","vaches"]·heb["ה-פרה","ה-פרות","פרות","פרת"]·HI["गाय","गाय-की","गायें","गायों","गायों-के","गायों-ने"]·ID["lembu","lembu-betina","lembu-itu","lembu-lembu-itu","sapi-betina"]·IT["il-heifer","il-vacche","vacche"]·jav["lembu-èstri","lembu-èstri-punika","sapi-estri","sapi-estri-punika","sapi-èstri"]·KO["그-소들을","그-소들이","그-암소","그-암소-를","그-암소-의","그-암소들","그-암소들은","그-암소들을","그-암소들이","소들을","암소","암소들은","암소들이"]·PT["a-novilha","as-vacas","vacas"]·RU["коров","коровами","корову","коровы"]·ES["la-vaca","las-vacas","vacas"]·SW["ndama-jike","ng'ombe","ng'ombe-jike"]·TR["-inek","-inekler","-inekleri","-ineklerin","inek","inekler","ineği","ineğin"]·urd["دودھ-دینے-والی-گائیں","گائیوں","گائیوں-نے","گائیوں-کو","گائیوں-کے","گائیں","گائیں-وہ","گائے","گائے-کی","گائے-کے"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
I. פָּרָה26 n.f. heifer, cow;—abs. פ׳ Is 11:7 +; sf. פָּרָתוֹ Jb 21:10; pl. פָּרוֹת Gn 32:16 +, פָּרֹת 41:26; cstr. פָּרוֹת Am 4:1;—as gift Gn 32:16; in Pharaoh’s dream 41:2, 3(×2) + 8 times 41; drawing cart 1 S 6:7, 12, 14 + פ׳ עָלוֹת v 7, 10 cows giving suck, milch cows; פ׳ calving Jb 21:10, grazing Is 11:7; פ׳ אֲדֻמָּה red heifer Nu 19:2, cf. v 5, 6, 9, 10; sim. of stubbornness Ho 4:16; פָּרוֹת הַבָּשָׁן Am 4:1, fig. of luxurious women.