שָׁלשׁ, H7969
three — the cardinal number, used independently, in construct, and in compound numerals
Shalosh (masculine) and sheloshah (feminine) together account for 431 occurrences of the cardinal number three in the Hebrew Bible. Beyond simple counting, 'three' carries significant structural weight in biblical narrative — three visitors to Abraham (Gen 18:2), three days of darkness (Exod 10:22), three divisions of the Psalter. The number appears in construct chains ('three of them'), with prepositional prefixes ('for three,' 'from three'), and in compound numerals ('thirteen,' 'three hundred'). Cross-linguistic evidence is entirely consistent: Spanish 'tres,' French 'trois,' German 'drei' — pure numeral translation with no semantic divergence.
Senses
1. cardinal number three — The cardinal number three in its masculine (shalosh) and feminine (sheloshah) forms, used for counting persons, objects, time periods, and measurements. Appears independently (Gen 6:10 'three sons'), in construct with pronominal suffixes (Gen 9:19 'three of them'), and as a component in compound numerals like thirteen or three hundred (Gen 5:22). All 431 occurrences denote the same numerical value without metaphorical extension. 431×
AR["ثَلَاثٌ", "ثَلَاثَ", "ثَلَاثَةٌ", "ثَلَاثَةَ", "ثَلَاثَةُ", "ثَلَاثَةِ", "ثَلَاثُ"]·ben["তিন", "তিনটি"]·DE["drei", "dreihundert", "von-drei"]·EN["three"]·FR["trois"]·heb["שלוש", "שלושה", "שלושת"]·HI["तिन", "तीन"]·ID["Tiga", "tiga"]·IT["tre"]·jav["tiga", "tigang", "tigang-atus"]·KO["그를", "삼", "삼의", "세백", "셋", "셋의"]·PT["Três", "trezentos", "três"]·RU["три", "триста", "трое", "троих", "трёх"]·ES["tres", "tres-de", "trescientos"]·SW["Watatu", "baturi", "matatu", "mia-tatu-za", "miaka-mia-nne-na-mitatu", "miezi", "na-kwa", "siku", "tatu", "vipimo-vitatu", "watatu", "watatu-wa", "watu-watatu", "ya-siku", "ya-siku-tatu"]·TR["Üç", "üç"]·urd["تین"]
Related Senses
H3605 1. all, every, whole (5352×)H0259 1. one (cardinal numeral) (940×)H8147 1. cardinal number two (666×)G3956 1. all (collective plural) (616×)H3967 1. cardinal numeral hundred (550×)H1419a 1. great, large (general quality) (486×)H0505 1. cardinal number thousand (427×)H7651 1. seven (cardinal number) (393×)G1520 1. cardinal number one (339×)H6240 1. ten (cardinal number) (334×)H6242 1. twenty (cardinal number) (315×)H2568 1. cardinal number five (309×)H0702 1. four (cardinal number) (277×)G3956 2. every, each (distributive) (227×)H8337 1. six (cardinal number) (215×)G3956 3. all things, everything (substantive) (211×)G3956 4. (187×)H6235 1. ten (177×)G3173 1. great in size or extent (176×)H7970 1. thirty (cardinal number) (168×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
שָׁלשׁ, שָׁלוֹשׁ, שְׁלשָׁה n.m. et f. a three, triad (NH id.; שלש SI2; שלשן 30 MI2; Ph. שלש; Assyrian šalšu. šalaštu; Sab. שלתֿ HomChr 47, 124, but also תֿלתֿ, etc., id.47; A. u. A. ii. 175 Sab DenkmNo. 31, 8; Arabic ثَلَاثٌ, ثَلَاثَةٌ; Ethiopic ሠላስ: ሠለስቱ Aramaic תְּלָתָא, ܬܠܳܬܳܐ; Nab. תלת Lzb377; Palm. תלת (in תלת מאה) ReckendZMG xiii (1888), 408; v. also Köii. 1. 208);—m. שָׁלשׁ (-וֹשׁ rare,…