Derivative of root טמא — canonical: H2930 טָמֵא (4 family members).

In a ritual or cultic context, 'ṭāmêʼ' means unclean, impure—designating a person, animal, object, or food that is ritually or ceremonially unsuitable for sacred use or participation in religious acts due to contact with certain substances, conditions, or actions. It can also denote a state of impurity resulting from transgression of ritual boundaries, contact with the dead, particular diseases, or emissions. While the term often carries technical cultic meaning, it can be extended metaphorically to moral or social pollution, though the primary sense remains ritual.