טְוָת

# Tĕvat (טְוָת): A Rare Hebrew Term for Fasting Based on the lexical data provided, tĕvat is a Hebrew noun meaning "fasting" that appears only once in the biblical text. Its singular occurrence in the Hebrew Bible makes it a hapax legomenon—a word attested in only one location. This rarity limits our ability to establish a comprehensive semantic range or to observe how the word was used across different contexts or literary genres within biblical literature. The term's appearance as a fasting-related vocabulary item places it within the broader semantic field of biblical practices concerning abstinence from food. However, without multiple occurrences to compare, we cannot determine whether tĕvat carried any distinctive connotation that distinguished it from other Hebrew words for fasting or whether it was simply an alternative or archaic form. The single attestation suggests this may have been a less common or specialized term in biblical Hebrew, possibly reflecting a particular regional, temporal, or stylistic preference in the text where it appears.