טף

Uncertain; from the same root as Arabic طَفِيف (ṭafīf, “small, insignificant”).

• (Biblical Hebrew) IPA^(key): /tˤapp/
• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /taf/

• Audio:

  (file)

טַף • (taf) m (no plural forms, Biblical Hebrew pausal form טָף) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. (chiefly Modern Israeli Hebrew) babies, infants, small children

   אֲנָשִׁים, נָשִׁים, יְלָדִים וָטַף. ― anashím, nashím, y'ladím vatáf. ― Men, women, children and infants.

2. (Biblical Hebrew) children
   • Tanach, Numbers 31:9:

     וַיִּשְׁבּוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־נְשֵׁי מִדְיָן וְאֶת־טַפָּם וְאֵת כׇּל־בְּהֶמְתָּם וְאֶת־כׇּל־מִקְנֵהֶם וְאֶת־כׇּל־חֵילָם בָּזָזוּ׃

     The Israelites took the women and children of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their animals, all their herds, and all their wealth.

   1. (by extension) family, household (women and children)
      • Tanach, 2 Chronicles 20:13:

        וְכׇל־יְהוּדָה עֹמְדִים לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה גַּם־טַפָּם נְשֵׁיהֶם וּבְנֵיהֶם׃

        And all of Judah was standing before Hashem with their families: their wives and their children.

      • Tanach, Genesis 47:12:

        וַיְכַלְכֵּל יוֹסֵף אֶת־אָבִיו וְאֶת־אֶחָיו וְאֵת כׇּל־בֵּית אָבִיו לֶחֶם לְפִי הַטָּף׃

        And Joseph sustained his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to [the want of] their families.

   2. (by extension) young adults
      • Tanach, Leviticus 31:18:

        וְכֹל הַטַּף בַּנָּשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדְעוּ מִשְׁכַּב זָכָר הַחֲיוּ לָכֶם׃

        But all the young ones among the women, those that haven't had intercourse with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

This noun is always used collectively and therefore uncountable.

• שְׁמַרְטַף (shmartáf, “babysitter”)

• H2945 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Klein, Ernest (1987), “טַף”, in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English‎^[1], Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 247b
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903), A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature‎^[2], London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 545a
• “טף” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language