H4704 — מִצְּעִירָה (mitstsᵉʻîyrâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4704
Original: מִצְּעִירָה
Transliteration: mitstsᵉʻîyrâh
Pronunciation: mits-tseh-ee-raw
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: Feminine of H4705 (מִצְעָר mitsʻâr), itself a compound: מִן (min, "from") + צָעִיר (tsaʻîyr, H6810, "small/young/least")
Occurrences: 1 in OT
First Occurrence: Dan 8:9 — "And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great"
Hapax Legomenon: YES — appears only once in the entire OT

Lexicon Definition¶

Feminine of H4705 (מִצְעָר); properly, littleness; concretely, diminutive:—little.

The form is a prepositional compound: מִן ("from") + the feminine of צָעִיר ("small, young, least"), producing the sense "from smallness" or "out of littleness." In Dan 8:9 it functions adjectivally, describing the initial insignificance of the horn before it grew exceedingly great.

Note: The Hebrew parser (BHSA) analyzes the word as מִ (prep) + צְּעִירָה (noun fs abs, lemma צעירה), consistent with this etymology. The Strong's system assigns the compound a single number.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
little	1	100%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Abbrev	Count	Book Verses	Per 100
Daniel	Dan	1	357	0.3

Single occurrence in the prophetic/apocalyptic genre. As a hapax, no genre distribution pattern can be established.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Smallness as Origin / Humble Beginning¶

The word marks the starting point of something that expands dramatically. The contrast with "waxed exceeding great" (וַתִּגְדַּל יֶתֶר) is the whole point of the descriptor.

Dan 8:9 — "And out of one of them came forth a little (מִצְּעִירָה) horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant [land]."

Because this is a hapax, no additional semantic categories can be established from usage.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H4705 מִצְעָר (mitsʻâr) — masculine counterpart: small, few, a little while (5x: Gen 19:20; 2Chr 24:24; Job 8:7; Isa 63:18)
H6810 צָעִיר (tsaʻîyr) — root adjective: little, young, least (22x); covers both smallness in size and youth in age

Synonyms¶

No close synonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H4704.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H4704.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
מְעַט (mᵉʻaṭ)	H4592	both rendered "little/few"	mᵉʻaṭ is the common word for smallness/fewness (102x); H4704 is a rare compound form occurring only once
קָטָן (qatan)	H6996	both rendered "small/little"	qatan covers small size and low rank broadly (101x); H4704 emphasizes origin from smallness
צָעִיר (tsaʻîyr)	H6810	both from same root	tsaʻîyr is the simple adjective; H4704 adds the "from" (מִן) prefix, marking starting-point littleness

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001035	Little	`search_relationships.py` places mitstsᵉʻîyrâh in the smallness field, matching Dan 8:9's emphasis on a horn that begins from littleness before growing great.
002001001068	Young	The neighboring youth/smallness field reflects the word's derivation from צָעִיר and its overlap with terms for lesser size or status.

LXX Mapping¶

No alignment data available (hapax; single-verse attestation too sparse for PMI scoring). The Theodotion LXX of Dan 8:9 likely used a form of μικρός (mikros, G3398, "small") or ἐλάχιστος (elachistos, "least"), but this cannot be confirmed from tool data.