Abib

Abib, also spelled Aviv, has three meanings in Hebrew:

The stage in the growth of grain when the seeds have reached full size and are filling with starch, but have not dried yet. During the plague of hail (Exodus 9:31), the barley was abib and the flax was giv`ol.
The month in the Hebrew calendar when the barley has reached or passed this stage (Ex. 13:4; 23:15); the seventh of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and the first of the civil year. It began about the time of the vernal equinox, on 21st March. It was called Nisan, after the Babylonian captivity (Neh. 2:1). On the fifteenth day of the month, harvest was begun by gathering a sheaf of barley, which was offered to the Lord on the sixteenth (Lev. 23:4-11).
The season when barley ripens; spring. Thus the major modern Israeli city of Tel Aviv means "Springhill".

References

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

Abib (Barley) in the Hebrew Bible - a description of the importance of abib in the Karaite calendar by the World Karaite Movement.