H8457 — תַּזְנוּת (taznûwth)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H8457
Original: תַּזְנוּת
Transliteration: taznûwth
Pronunciation: taz-nooth
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: זָנָה (zânâh, H2181) — to commit whoredom, play the harlot
Occurrences: 20 tokens in 19 unique verses across 1 book
First Occurrence: Eze 16:15 — "But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Or תַּזְנֻת taznuth; from H2181; harlotry, i.e. (figuratively) idolatry:—fornication, whoredom.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
whoredoms	14	73.7%
whoredom	3	15.8%
fornication(s)	2	10.5%

Note: KJV uses possessive modifiers throughout ("thy whoredoms," "her whoredoms," etc.), reflecting the consistently second- or third-person address of Ezekiel's allegories.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Ezekiel	19	1.5

Ezekiel is the sole user of this noun. The word appears exclusively in the two great allegory chapters: Ezekiel 16 (Jerusalem as unfaithful wife, 11 occurrences) and Ezekiel 23 (Oholah/Oholibah, 8 occurrences). No other biblical author uses taznuwth — the root verb zanah (H2181) and the cognate nouns zanuwn (H2183) and zenuwth (H2184) carry the same semantic range elsewhere (Hosea, Jeremiah, Numbers).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Covenant Infidelity as Marital Unfaithfulness¶

The dominant usage: Jerusalem/Judah's idolatry depicted as a wife's harlotry against her husband (YHWH). - Eze 16:15 — "playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by" - Eze 16:22 — "in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth" - Eze 16:36 — "thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations" - Eze 23:35 — "Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms"

2. Escalation and Multiplication of Idolatry¶

Taznuwth frequently appears with verbs of increase, emphasizing that the infidelity was not a single act but a compounding pattern. - Eze 16:25 — "hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms" - Eze 16:26 — "hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger" - Eze 16:29 — "thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea" - Eze 23:14 — "she increased her whoredoms" - Eze 23:19 — "she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth"

3. Alliance with Foreign Nations as Whoredom¶

Political alliances with pagan empires are cast as acts of harlotry — Egypt, Assyria, Babylon. - Eze 16:26 — "committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours" - Eze 23:7 — "she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria" - Eze 23:8 — "Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt" - Eze 23:17 — "the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom"

4. Exposure and Judgment¶

The discovery and punishment of whoredom — YHWH exposing what was done in secret, leading to shaming and retribution. - Eze 23:18 — "she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her" - Eze 23:29 — "shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered" - Eze 16:33 — "thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom"

5. Child Sacrifice as Extension of Whoredom¶

The most extreme expression — sacrificing children to idols is framed as part of the same pattern of harlotry. - Eze 16:20 — "thou hast sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
זָנָה (zânâh)	H2181	6x	Root verb in same verse: "playedst the harlot... thy whoredoms"
רָבָה (râbâh)	H7235	4x	"multiplied thy whoredoms/fornication"
נָתַן (nâthan)	H5414	4x	"givest thy gifts" in context of paying lovers
גָּלָה (gâlâh)	H1540	3x	"discovered/uncovered thy whoredoms" (exposure)
מִצְרַיִם (Mitsrayim)	H4714	3x	"whoredoms from Egypt" — origin of idolatry pattern
נָעוּר (nâʻûwr)	H5271	3x	"days of thy youth" — early formative period of whoredom
עֶרְוָה (ʻervâh)	H6172	3x	"nakedness... whoredoms" — exposure/shame vocabulary
שָׁפַךְ (shâphak)	H8210	3x	"poured out" — whoredom described as outpouring
אָהַב (ʼâhab)	H157	2x	"thy lovers" — foreign nations as paramours
אָחוֹת (ʼâchôwth)	H269	2x	"her sister" — Oholah/Oholibah comparison

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2181 זָנָה (zânâh) — root verb: to commit whoredom, play the harlot (93 occurrences; 19 books)
H2183 זָנוּן (zânûwn) — adultery/whoredom (masc. pl. noun; 12 occurrences; from same root; used in Hosea 1–5, Nahum 3, Gen 38, 2 Kgs 9, Eze 23:11/29)
H2184 זְנוּת (zᵉnûwth) — whoredom/infidelity (fem. noun; 9 occurrences; Num, Jer, Eze, Hos — overlaps with taznuwth in figurative-idolatry usage)
H2185 זֹנוֹת (zônôwth) — harlots (fem. pl. participle; 3 occurrences)

Synonyms¶

H2154 זִמָּה (zimmâh) — lewd purpose, heinous crime, wicked device (29 occurrences; emphasizes the planned, deliberate character of the sin rather than the relational betrayal)
H8441 תּוֹעֵבָה (tôwʻêbah) — abomination (117 occurrences; broader category — everything YHWH finds detestable, including idolatry, sexual sin, and cultic violations; co-occurs with taznuwth in Eze 16:22, 36)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
זָנוּן (zânûwn)	H2183	"whoredom(s)"	Masculine plural; broader distribution (Hosea, Nahum, Genesis); taznuwth is fem. sing., Ezekiel-exclusive
זְנוּת (zᵉnûwth)	H2184	"whoredom(s)"	Found in Num, Jer, Eze, Hos; literal and figurative; taznuwth always figurative for idolatry
זָנָה (zânâh)	H2181	"whoredom," "harlot"	The root verb — taznuwth is its abstract noun form

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
πορνεία (porneía) G4202	15	24.52	Primary equivalent — "fornication/sexual immorality"
ἐκπορνεύω (ekporneúō) G1608	4	11.28	"give oneself to fornication utterly"
πορνεύω (porneuō) G4203	3	10.59	"commit fornication" (verb)

The LXX maps taznuwth almost exclusively into the πορν- word group. This establishes the direct semantic bridge from Ezekiel's marriage-allegory vocabulary into the NT porneia domain, which is significant for reading Revelation 14:8; 17:2, 4; 18:3 ("the wine of the wrath of her fornication") against this Ezekielian background.