wudu

This term refers to a specific spiritual preparation rather than a general act of hygiene. While it involves washing, it is a formal act of worship (ibadah) with a prescribed sequence of actions that must be followed to be valid for prayer.

As a specialized religious term borrowed from Arabic, it is typically treated as an uncountable noun in English. It describes the state of ritual purity or the process of achieving it, and is rarely pluralized even when referring to multiple instances of the practice.