gnat
ken chiefly occurs as a noun in accounts of small creatures, with one adverbial occurrence whose contribution is unclear in the translation.
The noun use is dominant: its forms occur in the Exodus plague sequence and in Psalm 105:31, where the APB describes a swarm of gnats. A single occurrence is tagged as an adverb in Isaiah 51:6, within a comparison involving those who die like a gnat, but the translation does not isolate that form’s contribution.
Senses in use
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Small creatures in plague scenes · dominant
Noun forms occur in the Exodus plague sequence in Exodus 8:12, Exodus 8:13, and Exodus 8:14; the APB there speaks of frogs and of their being heaped up, so it does not separately identify this lemma’s contribution. In Psalm 105:31, the plural noun occurs where the APB renders the scene, “the swarm came, gnats throughout all their borders.”
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Adverbial occurrence in a comparison · rare
In Isaiah 51:6, the form is tagged as an adverb and occurs in the clause that the APB renders, “those who dwell in her will die like a gnat.” The precise contribution of the adverbial form cannot be isolated.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB explicitly uses “gnats” in Psalm 105:31, but its Exodus renderings speak of frogs. In Isaiah 51:6 it includes “like a gnat,” though the adverbial form cannot be aligned with a specific English word in the translation.