לָחֶם
𐤋𐤇𐤌
lâchem
H3901 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
A struggle or engagement between opposing groups, a battle, or a military conflict. The term is commonly used to refer to specific military encounters or engagements, but can also denote warfare or the broader state of armed contest.
Semantic Range
battle, military engagement, combat, armed conflict; occasionally: general warfare or a state of war
Root / Etymology
Derived from the root לָחַם (lacham), meaning 'to fight' or 'to wage war.' The noun לָחֶם (lâchem) is a nominal formation from this root, signifying the act or event of fighting or battle. The root לָחַם originally conveyed the idea of physical struggle or grappling, and its semantic development extended to formalized armed conflict.
Historical & Contextual Notes
In the Hebrew Bible, לָחֶם typically denotes actual combat scenarios between groups or nations, as opposed to other terms for war (such as מִלְחָמָה, milchamah) which may emphasize the concept or activity of warfare more generally. The distinction is not always rigid, but לָחֶם is less common and more specific than מִלְחָמָה, often found in poetic or archaic contexts (e.g., the Song of the Sea, Exodus 15:3; Job 38:23). The word's use is largely confined to early or elevated literary passages and becomes rare in the later books of the Tanakh, where מִלְחָמָה predominates. English translations often collapse לָחֶם and מִלְחָמָה into 'battle' or 'war,' which can obscure the nuance and contextual specificity of לָחֶם. The noun לֶחֶם (lechem, 'bread') is homographic but unrelated etymologically, sharing spelling but not meaning or root.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from לָחַם,; battle; war.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
לחם (l-ḥ-m) — bread, food, sustenance; possibly to press, to knead (distinct from to fight)
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H1035 | בֵּית לֶחֶם | bread |
| H3433 | יָשֻׁבִי לֶחֶם | bread |
| H3894 | לָחוּם | his edible portion |
| H3898 | לָחַם | in his waging-war |
| H3899 | לֶחֶם | in the bread |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3901-01 |
לָחֶ֣ם | lachem | HNcmsa |
war | bread | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3901-01 |
Judges 5:8 | לָחֶ֣ם | lachem | HNcmsa |
war | bread |