תַּנִּין
serpent
also: dragon, sea monster fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H8577 appears in the Book of Psalms — 4 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Psalms
- Psalms 44:19 תַּנִּ֑ים n c mp Though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death.
- Psalms 74:13 תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים n c mp You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
- Psalms 91:13 וְ/תַנִּֽין conj + n c ms You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
- Psalms 148:7 תַּ֝נִּינִ֗ים n c mp Praise Yahweh from the earth, You great sea creatures, and all depths!
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Hebrew noun תנין centers on the idea of “serpent.” Older and newer Bibles part ways — “dragons” in the King James Version, “jackals” (Berean Standard Bible) in modern versions. See the renderings breakdown. It appears 26 verses across 10 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 1:21. Beyond “serpent” it also covers “dragon” and “sea monster” — see its full sense range. Dig into 26-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H8577 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 26
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 26 distinct verses.
- 10 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 10 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,251
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,251 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 26 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 26 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 14 verses · 54%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 27%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 5 verses · 19%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Dragons 12×, Dragon 5×
- American Standard Version: Jackals 9×, Monster 2×, Sea-monsters 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Jackals 11×, Serpent 5×, Dragon 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Jackals 8×, Serpent 3×, Sea creatures 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8577 across 28 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8577 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H8577 across 28 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8577 across 24 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. serpent, Dt 32:33 (venomous), ψ 91:13 (‖ פֶּתֶן), Ex 7:9, 10, 12 (P). e.g. Deuteronomy 32:33
- 2. dragon, as devourer (sim.) Je 51:34; עֵין הַתּ׳ Ne 2:13, near Jerus. e.g. Jeremiah 51:34
- 3. sea- (or river-) monster, Gn 1:21 (P); fig. Jb 7:12 ψ 74:13 (i.e. Egyptians), Is 27:1; 51:9 (‖ רַהַב mythol. personif. of chaos) Ez 29:3; 32:2; called to praise י׳ ψ 148:7 (‖ תְּהֹמוֹת).—Vid. CheEncy. Bib. dragon GunkSchöpfung 69 ff. BartonJAOS xv. 1(1891), 23 f.; personif. of water-spout RSSem i. 161; 2nd ed. 176; cf. Gk. fish-name θύννος LewyFremdw. 15. e.g. Genesis 1:21
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
(erron. תַּנִּים) n.m. Ez 29:3 serpent, dragon, sea-monster (NH id. (rare); Arabic تَنِّينٌ, loan-word from Aramaic תַּנִּינָא, ܬܰܢܺܝܢܳܐ Frä123; Ethiopic ተመን );—abs. ת׳ Ex 7:9 +, ים— Ez 29:3; 32:2 (by confusion with pl. of [תַּן]); pl. תַּנִּינִם Gn 1:21, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from תן (tan) (H8565) — dragon.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
תָּנֵין
- smoking, v. תְּנַן.
תַּנִּין
- (b. h.) sea-monster, crocodile; large snake. Sabb. 150ᵃ רכב … וקשר ת׳ ראשו he (Nebuchadnezzar) rode on a male lion, and tied a snake around his head. Nidd. 22ᵇ דמות ת׳ an abortion in the shape of a monster; a. e.—Pl. תּנִּינִים, תַּנִּינִין. Midr. Till. to Ps. CXLVIII ומי … אלו הת׳ who are the largest (inhabitants of the earth)? The monsters; a. e.
תִּנְיָן
- , v. תִּנְיָין, תִּנְיָינוּת.
תְּנַן
- (v. next w.) to smoke. Part. תָּנֵן, תָּנֵין. Targ. Ex. XIX, 18. Targ. O. ib. XX, 15 (Y. I ed. Vien. תַּנִּין adj.).
- same. Targ. Is. VII, 4.
- ; Ithpe. אִיתְּנַן, אִיתִּין, v. מְתַנָּא
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 23 distinct written forms H8577 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| לְ/תַנִּֽין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 7:9 | 2 |
| תַּנִּ֑ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Jeremiah 9:11 | 2 |
| תַּנִּ֛ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Jeremiah 49:33 | 2 |
| הַ/תַּנִּ֖ין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Isaiah 27:1 | 1 |
| הַ/תַּנִּים֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 29:3 | 1 |
| הַ/תַּנִּינִ֖ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Genesis 1:21 | 1 |
| הַתַּנִּ֔ין | Noun, Proper | Nehemiah 2:13 | 1 |
| וְ/תַנִּ֖ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Isaiah 13:22 | 1 |
| וְ/תַנִּֽין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Psalms 91:13 | 1 |
| כַּ/תַּנִּ֑ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Jeremiah 14:6 | 1 |
| כַּ/תַּנִּ֔ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Micah 1:8 | 1 |
| כַּ/תַּנִּ֔ין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Jeremiah 51:34 | 1 |
| לְ/תַנִּ֑ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Job 30:29 | 1 |
| לְ/תַנִּינִ֑ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Exodus 7:12 | 1 |
| תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 74:13 | 1 |
| תַנִּ֔ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Isaiah 34:13 | 1 |
| תַנִּים֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Isaiah 35:7 | 1 |
| תַּ֝נִּינִ֗ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 148:7 | 1 |
| תַּנִּ֑ין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Job 7:12 | 1 |
| תַּנִּ֖ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Isaiah 43:20 | 1 |
| תַּנִּֽים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Jeremiah 10:22 | 1 |
| תַּנִּֽין | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Isaiah 51:9 | 1 |
| תַּנִּינִ֖ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Deuteronomy 32:33 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8577, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 21 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 26 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 1:21
- Exodus 7:9
- Deuteronomy 32:33
- Job 7:12
- Psalms 91:13
- Isaiah 13:22
- Jeremiah 9:11
- Ezekiel 29:3
- Micah 1:8
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
