The word "ruyan" is a Persian term that refers to the art of smoking tobacco through a water pipe. Its spelling may appear confusing to those unfamiliar with Persian phonetics. The word is spelled as /rʊˈjɑːn/ in IPA transcription. The letters "r" and "y" create a combined phoneme, which is pronounced as /j/. The vowel sound in the middle of the word is an unstressed /ʊ/. The final letter "n" is pronounced at the end with a nasal sound of /n/.