روح

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

• IPA^(key): /ruːħ/
• Rhymes: -uːħ

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

• رَاحَة الْأَرْوَاح (rāḥat al-ʔarwāḥ)

• → 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

• IPA^(key): /rawħ/

رَوْح • (rawḥ) m

1. refreshment

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

• IPA^(key): /rawwaħ/

روّح • (rawwaḥ) II (verbal noun مرواح (mirwāḥ), active participle مروّح (mirawwaḥ), passive participle متروّح (mitrawwaḥ))

1. (intransitive) to (literally) go home, to return home
2. (transitive) to bring home, to get home (verbal noun ترويح (tarwīḥ))

From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

• IPA^(key): /roːħ/

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح (arwāḥ))

1. spirit
   1. soul
   2. ghost
2. life

   ردّ فيه الروح ― radd fī ir-rōḥ ― it made him lively again

   Synonyms: حياة (ḥayā), عيشة (ʕīša)

• IPA^(key): /ruːħ/

روح • (rūḥ)

1. singular masculine imperative of راح (rāḥ, “to go”)

Borrowed from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).^[1]

رُوحْ • (rūh)

1. spirit, spiritual material
2. spirit, geist, ghost, the spiritual source
3. soul, ghost, a disembodied individual spirit
4. ghost

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

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

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

• Turkish: ruh

• 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^[1] (in French), 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^[2], 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^[3], Vienna, column 2377
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “ruh”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “روح”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[4], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 992

Borrowed from Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

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

روح • (ruh) (plural ارواح (arvâh), or روح‌ها)

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

• روان (ravân)

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

• → Gujarati: રૂહ (rūh)

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

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

رُوح • (rūḥ) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਰੂਹ)

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

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

رُوح • (rūḥ) m (Gurmukhi spelling ਰੂਹ)

1. essence; extract

• Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “رُوح”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
• “ਰੂਹ”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2025

• IPA^(key): /raw.waħ/, [ˈraw.wɑħ]

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

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?

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

From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ).

• IPA^(key): /roːħ/, [roːħ]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

روح • (rōḥ) f (plural أرواح (ʔarwāḥ))

1. spirit, soul

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

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

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

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

1. soul, spirit

   Synonym: آتما (ātma)

2. essence, quintessence

• “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, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC