dayya3 ضيع
Algerian Darja · verb
“dayya3” (ضيع) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to lose, misplace.
Meanings
- to lose, misplace
- to waste (time, money)
- to miss, let slip (opportunity)
Usage
dayya3 first means "to lose, to misplace": dayya3t sweret, "I lost the keys". It also means "to waste": dayya3 waqt, "to waste one's time", dayya3 drahem, "to waste money". With a person as object, it can mean "to neglect, to abandon", as in the pious phrase rabbi ma ydayya3 7ad, "God abandons no one". The passive or reflexive form is tdayya3, "to get lost". Note: to lose a match or a bet, khser is used, not dayya3. The register is common.
Example
ضيّعت التيليفون تاعي فالسوق
dayya3t tilifoun ta3i f souq
“I lost my phone at the market.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dayya3” but also “daya3”, “dhaya3”, “daye3” and “dayaa”. 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 “dayya3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to lose, mislay”; “to waste (time, money)”: dyya3 in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to lose, misplace”; “to waste (time, money)”: dhaya3 in Tunisian.