What is "nephesh"

Nephesh ( nep̄eš) is a Biblical Hebrew word which occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The word refers to the aspects of life, and human beings and higher animals are both described as having a nephesh. The Hebrew term is literally "living being", although it is commonly rendered as soul in English translations. A different view is that nephesh relates to being without the idea of life and that rather than having a nephesh a creation of God is a nephesh. In the text is that Adam was not given a nephesh but "became a living nephesh." Nephesh then is better translated as person or being, seeing that speaks of a dead body which in Hebrew is a nephesh mooth, a dead nephesh. Nephesh when put with another word can define the meaning of the word nephesh, as in nephesh, as with rûach "spirit", describes part of mankind that is immaterial, like a man's mind, emotions, will, intellect, personality and conscience as in Job 7:11.