روح

Arabic

Etymology 1

Etymologically related to Arabic: ريح (“wind”). From Proto-West Semitic *rūḥ-. Cognate with Hebrew רוּחַ (rúakh).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ruːħ/

Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) m or f (plural أَرْوَاح (ʔarwāḥ))

1. spirit (all senses), ghost
2. soul, essence, core or essential aspect required for being
3. life; spark of life, breath of life
4. breath, movement of air
5. motivation, energy, inspiration; the means to be animate or living
6. gun barrel

Declension

Derived terms

• رَاحَة الْأَرْوَاح (rāḥat al-ʔarwāḥ)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: ruh
• → Malay: roh
  • Indonesian: roh
• Maltese: ruħ
• → Ottoman Turkish: روح (ruh)

  > Turkish: ruh (inherited)

• → Persian: روح
  • → Bengali: রূহ (ruho)
  • → Hindi: रूह (rūh)
  • → Urdu: روح (roh)
• → Swahili: roho
• → Tabasaran: рюгь (rjuh)
• → Uyghur: روھ (roh)
• → Uzbek: ruh
• → Zazaki: ruh, roh

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “روح”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rawħ/

Noun

رَوْح • (rawḥ) m

1. refreshment

Declension

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ, “soul, spirit”).

Noun

روح • (ruh) (plural ارواح)

1. soul, the spirit of a person that lives on after one's death

   Synonyms: اوز (öz), تن (tin), جان (can), زات (zat), نفس (nefes)

2. soul, core, pith, kernel, marrow, essence of a thing

   Synonyms: اوز (öz), لب (lubb), مغز (mağz)

3. vitality, vivacity, liveliness, animation, energy
4. name of a certain angel or class of angels

Derived terms

Descendants

• Turkish: ruh

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ruh”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3979
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “روح”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 630
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Anima”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 62
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “روح”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2377
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “ruh”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “روح”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 992

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

Pronunciation

Noun

روح • (ruh) (plural ارواح (arvâh) or روح‌ها (ruh-hâ))

1. spirit
   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume II, verse 56:

     روح با علم است و با عقل است یار
     روح را با تازی و ترکی چه کار

     rūh bā 'ilm u bā 'aql ast yār
     rūh rā bā tāzī u turkī či kār

     The Spirit is associated (endued) with knowledge and reason:
     what has the Spirit to do with Arabic and Turkish?

2. soul
3. essence
4. ghost

Synonyms

• روان (ravân)

Derived terms

• روحی (ruhi)
• روحانی (ruhâni)
• روحیه (ruhiye)
• بی‌روح (bêruh)

Descendants

• → Gujarati: રૂહ (rūh)

Punjabi

Pronunciation

• (Standard Punjabi) IPA^(key): /ɾuːɦᵊ/,
• Rhymes: -uː˦

Etymology 1

Western Panjabi Wikipedia has an article on:

روح

Wikipedia ^pnb

Borrowed from Classical Persian رُوح (rūh), from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਰੂਹ)

1. soul; spirit
2. mind (ie. heart)
3. (figuratively) intention
4. (poetic) lover; beloved

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Urdu رَوح (rauh), from Classical Persian رَوح (rawh), ultimately from Arabic رَوْح (rawḥ).

Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) m (Gurmukhi spelling ਰੂਹ)

1. essence; extract

Declension

Further reading

• Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “رُوح”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
• “ਰੂਹ”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2024

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /raw.waħ/,

• Audio (al-Lidd)

  (file)

Verb

روّح • (rawwaḥ) II (present بروّح (birawweḥ), active participle مروّح (mrawweḥ))

1. to return, to go home

   شو رايك السبت تروّح معنا ع حيفا وتضلّك أسبوع؟

   šū rāyak is-sabt trawweḥ maʕna ʕa ḥēfa w-tḍallak ʔusbūʕ

   What do you say on Saturday you come back with us to Haifa and stay for a week?

Conjugation

See also

• رجع (rijiʕ, “to return”), عاد (ʕād, “to return”)

Etymology 2

From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /roːħ/,

• Audio (Ramallah)

  (file)

Noun

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح (ʔarwāḥ))

1. spirit, soul

Derived terms

• طويل الروح (ṭawīl ir-rūḥ, “patient”, adj.)

Urdu

Urdu Wikipedia has an article on:

روح

Wikipedia ^ur

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian روح (rūḥ), from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ, “spirit”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɾuːɦ/
• Rhymes: -uːɦ

Noun

رُوح • (rūh) f (formal plural اَرْوَاح (arvāh), Hindi spelling रूह)

1. soul, spirit

   Synonym: آتما (ātma)

2. essence, quintessence

Declension

Further reading

• “روح”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “روح”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary , Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “روح”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John Thompson (1884) “روح”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., →ISBN, →OCLC
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “روح”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
• John Shakespear (1834) “روح”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC