Hebrew · Strong's H2940
טַעַם
ta'am (TAH-ahm)
noun, masculine
Taste, and by extension judgment, discretion, or sound discernment—the capacity to tell good from bad.
Ta'am is the noun from the verb ta'am, "to taste." Its literal sense survives in Exodus 16:31, where the manna's taste was "like wafers made with honey," and Numbers 11:8, where it tasted "as the taste of fresh oil." From physical tasting the word naturally develops a figurative range: just as the palate distinguishes flavors, so the mind distinguishes wisdom from folly. Ta'am comes to mean perception, judgment, discretion, even decree or behavior.
David blesses Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:33 for her good "advice" (literally, ta'am) that kept him from bloodshed. Job, defending his integrity, asks, "Cannot my taste discern perverse things?" (Job 6:30). Proverbs warns that a beautiful woman without ta'am—"without discretion"—is like a gold ring in a pig's snout (Proverbs 11:22). Psalm 119:66 prays, "Teach me good judgment and knowledge."
The word also names an official decree. In Daniel and Ezra ta'am is used repeatedly for the formal command of a king (Daniel 3:10; Ezra 4:21), and David memorably uses it of feigning madness before Achish—he "changed his behavior" (1 Samuel 21:13), the superscription of Psalm 34 recalls. The semantic arc is consistent: from what the tongue tastes, to what the mind judges, to what authority decides.
Common English renderings
- taste
- judgment
- discretion
- behavior
- decree
- advice
Key verses
"And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey."
Read in context →
"and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand."
Read in context →
"He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders."
Read in context →
"Teach me good judgment and knowledge; For I have believed in thy commandments."
Read in context →
"Asa ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So isa fair woman that is without discretion."
Read in context →
"Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;"
Read in context →