Meaning of the word "Yom"

[Ora_et_Labora_1]

Now, I am aware that in hebrew the word “Yom” translates roughly to day in english. What I have been told is that it is a much more generic term, tending to mean epoch or era. Yet just the other day someone (a Goy) mentioned that when a number is used with it, it is to be understood as a 24 hour day. What I’d like to know from the Jewish members that come here and have a working knowledge of hebrew and the scriptures, how exactly do you understand the word “yom”?

 

[aspirant]

Now, I am aware that in hebrew the word “Yom” translates roughly to day in english. What I have been told is that it is a much more generic term, tending to mean epoch or era.

The English word “day” has more than one use. It’s commonly used to refer to the hours the sun shines or to periods of 24 hours. But it can also have broader uses, e.g. to a past period of time (“back in my/the day, we used to…”).

I would not be surprised if “yom” also has multiple uses.

On the other hand, it does not matter to a nonliteralist like myself either way.

 

[Usbek_de_Perse]

The English word “day” has more than one use. It’s commonly used to refer to the hours the sun shines or to periods of 24 hours. But it can also have broader uses, e.g. to a past period of time (“back in my/the day, we used to…”).

I would not be surprised if “yom” also has multiple uses.

On the other hand, it does not matter to a nonliteralist like myself either way.

Yom in Hebrew and “yawm” in Arabic means day, but can have other meanings of the present time. Just as we say, “today, I exect to receive my Felini movies from Netflix”, or “today we use computers for everything”, in Arabic, the word al-yawm means the same “today”. Also يوم القيامة‎ “yawm al-Qiyama” means day of resurrection in Arabic.