3ayan عيان
Algerian Darja · adjective
“3ayan” (عيان) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning tired, exhausted.
Meanings
- tired, exhausted
- bad, lousy, poor quality
Usage
3ayan first means "tired": "rani 3ayan" ("I'm tired"). The feminine is 3ayana and the plural is 3ayanin. In casual speech, especially among young people, the word is also used to judge something as bad or botched: a film, a match or an acting performance that is "3ayan" is a mediocre result. Only context tells the two senses apart. Applied to a person, it can also mean that they are sick or in poor shape. With the preposition men, it expresses weariness: "3ayan men had la vie" ("tired of this life").
Example
خدمت النهار كامل، راني عيان بزاف
khdemt nhar kamel, rani 3ayan bezzaf
“I worked all day, I'm very tired.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3ayan” but also “3ayane”, “ayan” and “3yan”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “3ayan” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “tired, exhausted”; “unwell, under the weather”: 3eyyan in Moroccan.