katan · small, younger

What it means

katan (קָטָן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “small, younger”.

Small; the younger or lesser of two, in size, age or importance.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. What is small in size or counts for little.
2. The youngest son or daughter of the family, the last one born.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Small: of little size, age or importance; among brothers, the younger.

• The younger of the brothers Genesis 29:161 Samuel 16:11
• The lesser light Genesis 1:16
• “The small and the great”: all, without exception Deuteronomy 1:17Jeremiah 31:34
• Small in one's own eyes 1 Samuel 15:17
• “The least will become a thousand” Isaiah 60:22

How we translate it

“Small” 48 times, “youngest” 17, “younger” 12, “least” 8, “little” 8, “young” 4… “Younger” when two are compared (Genesis 29:16) and “youngest” when it is the last of several (1 Samuel 16:11). The pair מִקָּטֹן וְעַד גָּדוֹל is “from the least … to the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34), and נַעַר קָטֹן, “a little boy” (1 Samuel 20:35).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• small ×48
• youngest ×17
• younger ×12
• least ×8
• little ×8
• young ×4
• brief ×1
• lesser ×1
• smaller ×1
• smallest ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×20
• Exodus×2
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×3
• Judges×4
• 1 Samuel×13
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×7
• 2 Kings×7
• 1 Chronicles×4
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Esther×2
• Job×1
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×1
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×5
• Jeremiah×8
• Ezekiel×3
• Amos×3
• Obadiah×1
• Jonah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 1:16

  And Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.

• Genesis 9:24

  And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.

• Genesis 19:11

  And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, from small to great, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance.

• Genesis 27:15

  Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

• Genesis 27:42

  The words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Look, Esau your brother is consoling himself about you by planning to kill you.

• Genesis 29:16

  Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

• Genesis 29:18

  Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”

• Genesis 42:13

  They said, “Your servants are twelve, we are brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and look, the youngest is with our father today, and the one is no more.”

• Genesis 42:15

  By this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here.

• Genesis 42:20

  And bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words will be confirmed and you will not die.” And they did so.

• Genesis 42:32

  We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; the one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’

• Genesis 42:34

  Bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies, but you are honest men. I will give back your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’”

• Genesis 43:29

  He lifted his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “May Elohim show you favor, my son.”

• Genesis 44:2

  And my cup, the silver cup, put in the mouth of the bag of the youngest, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did according to the word of Joseph that he had spoken.

• Genesis 44:12

  He searched, beginning with the oldest and finishing with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s bag.

• Genesis 44:20

  And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a young child of his old age; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’

• Genesis 44:23

  But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

• Genesis 44:26

  We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’

• Genesis 48:19

  But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he too will become a people, and he too will be great; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become the fullness of the nations.”

• Exodus 18:22

  Let them judge the people at all times; and every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so make it lighter for yourself, and they will bear the load with you.

• Exodus 18:26

  They judged the people at all times; the difficult matter they would bring to Moses, but every small matter they would judge themselves.

• Numbers 22:18

  But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of YHWH my Elohim, to do anything small or great.

• Deuteronomy 1:17

  You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of anyone, for the judgment is Elohim’s. And the case that is too hard for you you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

• Deuteronomy 25:13

  You shall not have in your bag a weight and a weight, a large and a small.

• Deuteronomy 25:14

  You shall not have in your house an ephah and an ephah, a large and a small.

• Judges 1:13

  Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, younger than he, captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

• Judges 3:9

  The sons of Israel cried out to YHWH, and YHWH raised up a savior for the sons of Israel, who saved them: Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, younger than he.

• Judges 9:5

  He went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.

• Judges 15:2

  And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Let her be yours, please, instead of her.”

• 1 Samuel 2:19

  And his mother would make for him a little robe and bring it up to him year by year when she came up with her husband to sacrifice the yearly sacrifice.

• 1 Samuel 5:9

  And it happened, after they had moved it, that the hand of YHWH was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, from the small to the great, and tumors broke out on them.

• 1 Samuel 9:21

  And Saul answered and said, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my clan is the least of all the clans of the tribes of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me a word like this?”

• 1 Samuel 14:49

  The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the name of his two daughters: the name of the firstborn, Merab, and the name of the younger, Michal.

• 1 Samuel 15:17

  Samuel said, “Is it not so that though you were small in your own eyes, you are head of the tribes of Israel? And YHWH anointed you as king over Israel.

• 1 Samuel 16:11

  Samuel said to Jesse, “Are the young men all here?” He said, “There remains still the youngest, and look, he is pasturing the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit around until he comes here.”

• 1 Samuel 17:14

  David was the youngest, and the three oldest had gone after Saul.

• 1 Samuel 20:2

  He said to him, “Far be it! You shall not die. Look, my father does not do anything great or anything small without making it known to me; why then would my father hide from me this thing? It is not so.”

• 1 Samuel 20:35

  And it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out to the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy was with him.

• 1 Samuel 22:15

  Is it today that I have begun to inquire of Elohim for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king lay anything against his servant or against all the house of my father, for your servant did not know anything of all this, small or great.”

• 1 Samuel 25:36

  Abigail came to Nabal, and look, he had a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, and he was very drunk; so she did not tell him anything, small or great, until the light of morning.

And 61 more times.