זנה

Compare Arabic زَنَى‎ (zanā, “to fornicate”).

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /zaˈna/

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זָנָה • (zaná) third-singular masculine past (pa'al construction, infinitive לִזְנוֹת‎)

1. (dated) to fornicate, commit adultery
   • Tanach, Numbers 25:1:

     ‏וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשִּׁטִּים וַיָּחֶל הָעָם לִזְנוֹת אֶל־בְּנוֹת מוֹאָב׃‎‎

     And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab.

   • Tanach, Judges 19:2, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     ‏וַתִּזְנֶה עָלָיו פִּילַגְשׁוֹ וַתֵּלֶךְ מֵאִתּוֹ אֶל־בֵּית אָבִיהָ אֶל־בֵּית לֶחֶם יְהוּדָה וַתְּהִי־שָׁם יָמִים אַרְבָּעָה חֳדָשִׁים׃‎‎

     And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem in Judah, and was there the space of four months.

2. (dated) to go astray
   • Tanach, Numbers 15:39:

     ‏וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְצִיצִת וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־כָּל־מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא־תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם׃‎‎

     And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray;

• זוֹנָה‎ (zoná)
• זְנוּת‎ (z'nút)