tzaraath

English

Alternative forms

  • tzaraat, tsara'at, tzoraas, zaraath

Etymology

Borrowed from Hebrew צָרַעַת (tsará'at), originally "smitten" or "struck" from various skin afflictions' supposed divine origin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡sɑːˈɹɑː.(ʔ)ɑːt/, /t͡sɑːˈɹɑːt/, /t͡sə-/, /s-/, /-θ/

Noun

tzaraath (uncountable)

  1. (Judaism) Any of various disfigurements of a person's skin, hair, clothing, or home understood as a kind of impurity requiring special rituals of atonement.

Usage notes

These illnesses and conditions have traditionally been translated as leprosy in most English translations of the Bible, although it is now widely acknowledged that the impurities described in the Bible are much broader than Hansen's disease and may not refer to it at all.

  • metzora (“person afflicted with tzaraath”)

Translations

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