# Roma

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈɹoʊmə/ · frequency rank #11,105

## Definitions
1. A nomadic people with origins in India, the Romani.
2. A subgroup of the Romani people found primarily in Eastern Europe.
3. A variety of the Romani language (or occasionally) the Romani macrolanguage.

## Etymology
From Romani roma, plural of rom (“man, husband, Romani man”). The latter probably comes from Sanskrit डोम्ब (ḍomba, “lower-caste person working as a wandering musician”), from Sanskrit डमरु (ḍamaru, “drum”), which may have been borrowed from a Dravidian language. Folk etymology pointed to a legend that the ethnic group were an exiled people from Roman Imperial times.
The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Gypsy (words related to Egypt) and cognates of tzigane (words derived from Greek); see those entries for more information.

## Easily confused with
- **row** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-row)
- **Roy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-roy)
- **Ron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-ron)
- **rot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rot)
- **rum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rum)
- **rpm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rpm)
- **ROS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-ros)
- **RSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rsa)
- **roo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-roo)
- **RTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rta)
- **Rua** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rua)
- **room** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-room)
- **rose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rose)
- **roof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-roof)
- **Rome** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rome)
- **root** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-root)
- **Ross** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-ross)
- **rope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rope)
- **rows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rows)
- **Rosa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roma-vs-rosa)

## Common misspellings (4)
`orma`, `rmoa`, `romma`, `rroma`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/roma