روح

See also: روج‎, روچ‎, and زوج‎

Arabic

Root
ر و ح‎ (r-w-ḥ)

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

Declension of noun رُوح (rūḥ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	رُوح rūḥ	الرُّوح‎ ar-rūḥ	رُوح rūḥ
Nominative	رُوحٌ rūḥun	الرُّوحُ‎ ar-rūḥu	رُوحُ rūḥu
Accusative	رُوحًا‎ rūḥan	الرُّوحَ‎ ar-rūḥa	رُوحَ rūḥa
Genitive	رُوحٍ rūḥin	الرُّوحِ‎ ar-rūḥi	رُوحِ rūḥi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	رُوحَيْن‎ rūḥayn	الرُّوحَيْن‎ ar-rūḥayn	رُوحَيْ‎ rūḥay
Nominative	رُوحَانِ‎ rūḥāni	الرُّوحَانِ‎ ar-rūḥāni	رُوحَا‎ rūḥā
Accusative	رُوحَيْنِ‎ rūḥayni	الرُّوحَيْنِ‎ ar-rūḥayni	رُوحَيْ‎ rūḥay
Genitive	رُوحَيْنِ‎ rūḥayni	الرُّوحَيْنِ‎ ar-rūḥayni	رُوحَيْ‎ rūḥay
Plural	basic broken plural triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	أَرْوَاح‎ ʔarwāḥ	الْأَرْوَاح‎ al-ʔarwāḥ	أَرْوَاح‎ ʔarwāḥ
Nominative	أَرْوَاحٌ‎ ʔarwāḥun	الْأَرْوَاحُ‎ al-ʔarwāḥu	أَرْوَاحُ‎ ʔarwāḥu
Accusative	أَرْوَاحًا‎ ʔarwāḥan	الْأَرْوَاحَ‎ al-ʔarwāḥa	أَرْوَاحَ‎ ʔarwāḥa
Genitive	أَرْوَاحٍ‎ ʔarwāḥin	الْأَرْوَاحِ‎ al-ʔarwāḥi	أَرْوَاحِ‎ ʔarwāḥi

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
• → 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

Declension of noun رَوْح (rawḥ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	رَوْح rawḥ	الرَّوْح‎ ar-rawḥ	رَوْح rawḥ
Nominative	رَوْحٌ rawḥun	الرَّوْحُ‎ ar-rawḥu	رَوْحُ rawḥu
Accusative	رَوْحًا‎ rawḥan	الرَّوْحَ‎ ar-rawḥa	رَوْحَ rawḥa
Genitive	رَوْحٍ rawḥin	الرَّوْحِ‎ ar-rawḥi	رَوْحِ rawḥi

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

• 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

From Arabic رُوح‎ (rūḥ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ɾuːh]

 

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [roːʱ]

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [roːʱ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ruː]
  • (Hazaragi/approx.) IPA^(key): [ruː]

• (Iran, formal/TEH) IPA^(key): [ɹuːʱ]

• (Tajik, formal/DUS) IPA^(key): [ɾɵʰ]

• Phonetic Persian:

Traditional: [رُوه]‎

Iranian: [روه]‎

Readings
Classical reading?	rūh
Dari reading?	rūh
Iranian reading?	ruh
Tajik reading?	ruh

Noun

Dari	روح
Iranian Persian
Tajik	рӯҳ

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

1. spirit
2. soul
3. essence
4. ghost

Synonyms

• روان‎ (ravân)

Derived terms

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

South Levantine Arabic

Root
ر و ح‎
16 terms

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /raw.waħ/, [ˈraw.wɑħ]

• Audio (al-Lidd)

  (file)

Verb

روّح • (rawwaḥ) (form 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

Conjugation of روّح (rawwaḥ)
		singular				plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
past	m	روّحت (rawwaḥt)	روّحت (rawwaḥt)	روّح (rawwaḥ)		روّحنا (rawwaḥna)	روّحتو (rawwaḥtu)	روّحو (rawwaḥu)
	f		روّحتي (rawwaḥti)	روّحت (rawwaḥat)
present	m	بروّح (barawweḥ)	بتروّح (bitrawweḥ)	بروّح (birawweḥ)		منروّح (minrawweḥ)	بتروّحو (bitrawwḥu)	بروّحو (birawwḥu)
	f		بتروّحي (bitrawwḥi)	بتروّح (bitrawweḥ)
subjunctive	m	اروّح (arawweḥ)	تروّح (trawweḥ)	يروّح (yrawweḥ)		نروّح (nrawweḥ)	تروّحو (trawwḥu)	يروّحو (yrawwḥu)
	f		تروّحي (trawwḥi)	تروّح (trawweḥ)
imperative	m		روّح (rawweḥ)				روّحو (rawwḥu)
	f		روّحي (rawwḥi)

See also

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

Etymology 2

From Arabic رُوح‎ (rūḥ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /roːħ/, [roːħ]

• Audio (Ramallah)

  (file)

Noun

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح‎ (ʔarwāḥ))

1. 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^(key): /ɾuːɦ/
• Rhymes: -uːɦ

Noun

رُوح • (rūḥ) f (Hindi spelling रूह)

1. soul, spirit

   Synonym: آتما‎ (ātma)

2. essence, quintessence

Declension

Declension of روح
	singular	plural
direct	رُوح (rūḥ)	رُوحیں‎ (rūḥẽ)
oblique	رُوح (rūḥ)	رُوحوں‎ (rūḥõ)
vocative	رُوح (rūḥ)	رُوحو‎ (rūḥo)

References

• “روح”, in اُردُو لُغَت (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “روح”, in Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English] (in English), Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2023.