rou7 روح
Tunisian Derja · noun
“rou7” (روح) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning soul, spirit.
Meanings
- soul, spirit
- oneself (with possessive suffix)
- person, life
Usage
Rou7 means the soul, notably in religious formulas such as rabbi yer7am rou7ou (may God rest his soul). Its most frequent everyday use is reflexive: followed by a suffix, it means "oneself". You say ro7i (myself), rou7ek (yourself), rwe7kom (yourselves): 7adher rou7ek (get yourself ready), chouf rou7ek (look at yourself). Khfet rou7 describes someone funny and pleasant. Not to be confused with the verb rawa7 (to go home), whose imperative rawa7 or ru7 is written the same in Arabic without vowels.
Example
ربّي يرحم روحو
rabbi yer7am rou7ou
“May God rest his soul.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rou7” but also “ro7”, “ru7”, “rouh”, “roh” and “rawa7”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “rou7” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “soul, spirit”; “life, vital breath”: rou7 in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “soul, spirit”; “oneself (reflexive: rouhi, rouhek)”: rouh in Algerian.