naqod

נָקֹד is an adjective of the qatol pattern from the root נקד, confined in the Hebrew Bible to the Jacob and Laban flock narrative (Gen 30:32, 33, 35, 39; 31:8, 10, 12), where it occurs in fixed sequences with עָקֹד and טָלוּא and, in the dream report of 31:10, 12, with בָּרֹד. BDB derives it from a root meaning to mark by pricking or puncturing, comparing נְקֻדָּה "stud, bead" (Song 1:11) and נִקֻּדִים, the hard, pitted bread of Josh 9:5, 12 and 1 Kgs 14:3. HALOT and DCH gloss it "speckled, spotted with small marks" and note that the precise contrast among the three or four marking terms is largely inferred from their juxtaposition rather than independently attested, which is why commentators are cautious about pressing the difference between them. The relation of the adjective to נֹקֵד "sheep breeder" (2 Kgs 3:4; Amos 1:1) is disputed: BDB tentatively files both under one root, whereas HALOT associates נֹקֵד with Akkadian nāqidu and Ugaritic nqd, a title for a herdsman or an official over flocks, independent of the color term. Westermann, Wenham, and Hamilton all observe that the husbandry of the narrative is realistic for the region, where sheep are predominantly white and goats predominantly dark, so that marked animals form a genuinely scarce and therefore contractually meaningful class; the Greek tradition renders the adjective with ῥαντός "sprinkled," a rendering that captures the dotted pattern while leaving the contrast with the neighboring terms less sharply drawn than in the Hebrew.