H6669 H6669
yellow, gleaming; describes yellowish hair color in purity/skin disease diagnoses
This adjective describes a yellowish or gleaming quality, appearing exclusively in Leviticus 13 within priestly diagnostics for skin diseases. The word characterizes hair color that helps priests determine ritual impurity: yellow hair in an infected area signals uncleanness, while normal black hair suggests healing. The technical nature is evident in the consistent translations across languages: 'yellow' (English), 'amarillo' (Spanish), 'jaune' (French), 'gelb' (German). This color terminology was crucial for Levitical diagnosis, distinguishing healthy from diseased tissue.
Senses
1. sense 1 — All three uses appear in Leviticus 13:30-36, the priestly manual for diagnosing צָרַעַת (often rendered 'leprosy'). Yellow hair in a scaly patch indicates contamination, contrasting with the expected black hair. The multilingual evidence shows universal agreement on the basic color term, with some adding the definite article ('the yellow' vs. just 'yellow'), but all recognizing this as a diagnostic color indicator in ritual purity law. 3×
AR["أَصْفَرُ", "الْأَصْفَرِ"]·ben["সেই-হলুদ", "হলুদ"]·DE["der-gelb", "gelb"]·EN["the-yellow", "yellow"]·FR["jaune", "le-jaune"]·heb["ה-צהב", "צהב"]·HI["काला", "पीला", "महीन"]·ID["kuning"]·IT["il-yellow", "yellow"]·jav["kuning"]·KO["그-노란", "노란"]·PT["amarelo", "o-amarelo"]·RU["жёлтого", "жёлтый"]·ES["amarillo", "el-amarillo"]·SW["manjano", "ya-manjano"]·TR["sarı"]·urd["پیلا", "پیلے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† צָהֹב adj. gleaming, yellow (of hair);—שֵׂעָר צ׳ Lv 13:30, 32, 36 (opp. שׂ׳ שָׁחֹר v 31, 37).