נפש

עברית

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

נפש^¹

/napʃ/
/ˈnɛ.fɛʃ/
[ˈnɛː.fɛʃ]
/ˈna.faʃ/
[ˈnæː.fæʃ]
/ˈne.feʃ/ Modern Israeli

Where it comes from

From Proto-Semitic *napš-. Compare Akkadian 𒆒 (napāšum, “to breathe”), 𒍣 (napištum, “life”), Arabic نَفْس (nafs, “a soul, a life”), and Ge'ez ነፍስ (näfs).

Compare נָשַׁף (nasháf, “to blow”) and נָשַׁם (nashám, “to breathe”).

noun נֶפֶשׁ · néfesh · נְפָשׁוֹת · נֶפֶשׁ־ · נַפְשׁוֹת־

a soul, psyche (spirit of a person or animal)
life (the state of being alive, of living) וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו אֶדְרֹשׁ אֶת־נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם
a person (human being) וַיִּקַּח עֵשָׂו אֶת־נָשָׁיו וְאֶת־בָּנָיו וְאֶת־בְּנֹתָיו וְאֶת־כָּל־נַפְשׁוֹת בֵּיתוֹ וְאֶת־מִקְנֵהוּ וְאֶת־כָּל־בְּהֶמְתּוֹ וְאֵת כָּל־קִנְיָנוֹ
will (intent, volition) אִם־יֵשׁ אֶת־נַפְשְׁכֶם לִקְבֹּר אֶת־מֵתִי מִלְּפָנַי
dated breath נַפְשׁוֹ גֶּחָלִים תְּלַהֵט וְלַהַב מִפִּיו יֵצֵא׃

נפש^²

/napʃ/
/ˈnɛ.fɛʃ/
[ˈnɛː.fɛʃ]
/ˈna.faʃ/
[ˈnæː.fæʃ]
/ˈne.feʃ/ Modern Israeli

verb נָפַשׁ · nafásh · לנפוש · לִנְפֹּשׁ · -

construction pa'al to rest
construction pa'al to go on holiday/vacation

noun נֹפֶשׁ · nófesh

misspelling defective spelling of נופש

In English

soul the spirit or essence of a person that is often believed to live on after the pe

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"נפש." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/he/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A9. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

נפש. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/he/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A9

Chicago

"נפש." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/he/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A9.

BibTeX

@misc{micwyn_2026,
  title = {נפש},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/he/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A9},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}

נפש