Ferret

Ferret appears in the Authorized Version of Leviticus 11:30 as one of the small unclean creeping things prohibited for consumption by the Mosaic dietary laws. The Hebrew word rendered "ferret" (anaqah, meaning a cry or groan) is of uncertain identification. The Revised Version renders it "gecko," following the interpretation that the term refers to a small lizard — specifically the Lacerta gecko or a similar species of the Gekkonidae family, whose distinctive cry gives it its Hebrew name.

Most modern translations and commentators favor "gecko" over "ferret," as the true ferret (Mustela putorius furo) was likely not native to ancient Palestine. The gecko, however, was common throughout the region and was known for the sound it makes. Whatever the precise identification, the prohibition in Leviticus 11 places the animal among the "creeping things that creep on the ground" regarded as ceremonially unclean — a category that shaped Israelite purity practice in daily life.