# روح
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

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

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ruːħ/
* Rhymes: -uːħ

#### Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) m or f (plural أَرْوَاح (ʔarwāḥ))
* spirit (all senses), ghost
* soul, essence, core or essential aspect required for being
* life; spark of life, breath of life
* breath, movement of air
* motivation, energy, inspiration; the means to be animate or living
* gun barrel

##### Derived terms

* رَاحَة الْأَرْوَاح (rāḥat al-ʔarwāḥ)

##### Descendants

* → Malay: roh
** Indonesian: roh
* Maltese: ruħ
* → Old Anatolian Turkish: رُوحْ (rūh)
** Azerbaijani: ruh
** Gagauz: ruh
** Ottoman Turkish: روح (ruh)
    > Turkish: ruh (inherited)
* → Persian: روح
** → Bengali: রূহ (ruho)
** → Hindi: रूह (rūh)
** → Urdu: رُوح (rūh)
* → Swahili: roho
* → Tabasaran: рюгь (rjuh)
* → Uyghur: روھ (roh)
* → Uzbek: ruh
* → Kazakh: рух (rux)
* → Zazaki: ruh, roh
(via plural form أَرْوَاح (ʔarwāḥ))
* → Kazakh: аруақ (aruaq)
* → Azerbaijani: ərvah
* → Persian: ارواح (arvâh)
** → Urdu: ارواح (arvāh)
*** → Ushojo: ارواح (arvāh)
* → Classical Malay: ارواح
** → Malay: arwah
*** → Indonesian: arwah
* → Ottoman Turkish: ارواح (ervâh)
** → Turkish: ervah
* → Javanese: ꦫꦸꦮꦃ (Ruwah)
** → Sundanese: Rewah
* → Uyghur: ئەرۋاھ (erwah)
* → Uzbek: arvoh

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rawħ/

#### Noun

رَوْح • (rawḥ) m
* refreshment

##### Declension
#### References

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

## Egyptian Arabic
### Etymology 1
#### Pronunciation

IPA: /rawwaħ/

#### Verb

روّح • (rawwaḥ) II (verbal noun مرواح (mirwāḥ), active participle مروّح (mirawwaḥ), passive participle متروّح (mitrawwaḥ))
* (intransitive) to (literally) go home, to return home
* (transitive) to bring home, to get home (verbal noun ترويح (tarwīḥ))

##### Conjugation

$^1$ The future tense can be prefixed with either هـ (ha-) or حـ (ḥa-) depending on the speaker.

### Etymology 2

From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

#### Pronunciation

IPA: /roːħ/

#### Noun

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح (arwāḥ))
* spirit
** soul
** ghost
* life
    ردّ فيه الروح ― radd fī ir-rōḥ ― it made him lively again
    Synonyms: حياة (ḥayā), عيشة (ʕīša)

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

IPA: /ruːħ/

#### Verb

روح • (rūḥ)
* singular masculine imperative of راح (rāḥ, “to go”)

## Old Anatolian Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

### Noun

رُوحْ (rūh)
* spirit, spiritual material
* spirit, geist, ghost, the spiritual source
* soul, ghost, a disembodied individual spirit
* ghost

#### Descendants

* Azerbaijani: ruh
* Gagauz: ruh
* Ottoman Turkish: روح (ruh)
** Turkish: ruh

### References

* ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “ruh”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Anatolian Turkish رُوحْ (rūh), Arabic رُوح (rūḥ, “soul, spirit”).

### Noun

روح • (ruh) (plural ارواح)
* soul, the spirit of a person that lives on after one's death
    Synonyms: اوز (öz), تن (tin), جان (can), زات (zat), نفس (nefes)
* soul, core, pith, kernel, marrow, essence of a thing
    Synonyms: اوز (öz), لب (lubb), مغز (mağz)
* vitality, vivacity, liveliness, animation, energy
* name of a certain angel or class of angels

#### Derived terms

* روحانی (ruhani, “spiritual; holy”)
* روحسز (ruhsuz, “lifeless, inanimate”)
* روحلانمق (ruhlanmak, “to become animated”)
* روحلو (ruhlu, “having a soul”)

#### 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

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ɾuːh]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [roːʱ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [roːʱ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ruː]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ru]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [ɹuːʱ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [ɾɵʰ]

### Noun

روح • (ruh) (plural ارواح (arvâh) or روح‌ها (ruh-hâ))
* 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 کارrūh bā 'ilm u bā 'aql ast yār rūh rā bā tāzī u turkī či kārThe Spirit is associated (endued) with knowledge and reason: what has the Spirit to do with Arabic and Turkish?
* soul
* essence
* ghost

#### Synonyms

* روان (ravân)

#### Derived terms

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

#### Descendants

* → Gujarati: રૂહ (rūh)

## Punjabi
### Pronunciation

* (Standard Punjabi) IPA: /ɾuːɦᵊ/, [ɾuː˦]
* Rhymes: -uː˦

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਰੂਹ)
* soul; spirit
* mind (ie. heart)
* (figuratively) intention
* (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)
* 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, 2025

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology 1
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /raw.waħ/, [ˈraw.wɑħ]
* Audio (al-Lidd):(file)

#### Verb

روّح • (rawwaḥ) II (present بروّح (birawweḥ), active participle مروّح (mrawweḥ))
* to return, to go home
    شو رايك السبت تروّح معنا ع حيفا وتضلّك أسبوع؟šū rāyak is-sabt trawweḥ maʕna ʕa ḥēfa w-tḍallak ʔusbūʕWhat do you say on Saturday you come back with us to Haifa and stay for a week?

##### See also

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

### Etymology 2

From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /roːħ/, [roːħ]
* Audio (Ramallah):(file)

#### Noun

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح (ʔarwāḥ))
* spirit, soul

##### Derived terms

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

## Urdu
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /ɾuːɦ/
* Rhymes: -uːɦ

### Noun

رُوح • (rūh) f (formal plural اَرْوَاح (arvāh), Hindi spelling रूह)
* soul, spirit
    Synonym: آتما (ātma)
* 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 [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
* Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “روح”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
* Platts, John T. (1884) “روح”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
* 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, 3rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC