chakhsiya شخصية
Algerian Darja · noun
“chakhsiya” (شخصية) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning personality, character.
Meanings
- personality, character
- character (film, series)
- personality, public figure
Usage
Chakhsiya comes from Standard Arabic but is commonly used in speech. The word denotes someone's character: "3andha chakhsiya 9wiya", "she has a strong character". It also denotes a fictional character or a well-known public figure. In compliments, "chakhsiya hayla" is said of an admirable person. In informal speech you also hear the French "personnalité", or "caractère" in the sense of temperament. The word covers the three senses of English "personality" as well as that of "character".
Example
عندها شخصية قوية
3andha chakhsiya 9wiya
“She has a strong personality.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chakhsiya” but also “chakhsia”, “shakhsiya”, “cha5siya” and “chakhsiyya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “chakhsiya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “personality, character”; “character (film, novel)”: chakhsiya in Moroccan.