ਨੂੰਹ

What does nooh mean in Punjabi? Nooh (ਨੂੰਹ) means daughter-in-law: the wife of your son. She is counted from the husband's parents' side, and the word is the pair to jawai, the son-in-law. In a Punjabi home the nooh is not a guest who married in: the word itself places her inside the family, as a daughter of the house.

What does nooh mean in Punjabi?

Punjabi relationship lists give ਨੂੰਹ simply as daughter-in-law, next to ਜਵਾਈ for son-in-law: the Wikibooks Punjabi vocabulary lists it that way, and so does the HubPages guide to family names in Punjabi. A woman becomes a nooh at marriage. To her husband's mother, the saas (ਸੱਸ), and his father, the sauhra (ਸਹੁਰਾ), she is their nooh, and they are her saas and sauhra in return. The same woman holds other titles from other seats in the family: to her husband's younger brothers and sisters she is bhabhi, their elder brother's wife.

How is a nooh welcomed into the home?

Traditionally the bride comes to live in her husband's home, and her welcome is a ceremony in itself. In the paani bharna ritual, described in guides to Punjabi wedding customs, the mother-in-law stays back from the wedding to receive the couple, offers the bride a glass of water and circles it around her head before she drinks, a sign that the groom's family accepts and welcomes her with love. The bride then steps inside past a brass pot of rice at the threshold, and a reception introduces her to the wider family as the home's new nooh.

Is a nooh treated as a daughter?

In Punjabi homes you often hear the saying 'nooh vi dhee hundi hai': a daughter-in-law too is a daughter. The word carries that expectation with it. A nooh joins the daily life of the house, its meals, work and festivals, and over time she often becomes one of the people who run it. The saying is spoken as a reminder to the whole house, not only to her: she has left her parents' home, and her new family is expected to make this one hers.