Bikkurah (בִּכּוּרָה) refers specifically to the first-ripe or early fig — the tender young fruit that appears on the tree before the main harvest season. Related to bikkurim (H1061, firstfruits), the word carries the double meaning of 'that which comes first' and 'that which is most eagerly desired.' A ripe early fig in summer was considered a special delicacy, so bikkurah became a metaphor for something precious, desired, and God-given.
The prophets used bikkurah as a powerful image in both blessing and judgment. In Micah 7:1, the prophet laments the absence of the bikkurah — 'my soul desires the first-ripe fig, but there is none' — as a picture of moral barrenness in Israel. In Hosea 9:10, God recalls finding Israel 'like grapes in the wilderness' and 'like the first fruit [bikkurah] on the fig tree' — a memory of delight that makes the present betrayal all the more painful. The concept connects to firstfruits theology: what comes first belongs to God.