adam, “man,” strong’s H120

The first occurrence.

And God said: Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the winged creatures of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Gen 1:26

The primitive root.

Strong’s H120  adam, a concrete noun meaning, “man,” from Strong’s H119 אדם adam, a primitive root meaning, “to be red.” The 3-letter root is aleph + dalet + mem.

aleph  א  = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
dalet ד  = the door, thus enter, move, hang
mem  מ ,ם  = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood

The story: A powerful (aleph) flowing (dalet, as a door swinging back and forth) of blood (mem) into the face gives it a red appearance.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS