fsekh فسخ

Algerian Darja · verb

“fsekh” (فسخ) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to fade, lose colour.

Meanings

1. to fade, lose colour
2. to cancel, terminate (a contract)
3. to undo, take off

Usage

Fsekh is said mostly of a garment that fades or loses its colour, for example because of bleach or washing. You say lqmija fesxet, "the shirt has faded". The verb is also used in the sense of cancelling or terminating, notably in fsekh l3qed, "to terminate the contract". This second use is more formal and close to Standard Arabic. More rarely, it means to undo or take off something. The informal expression qalbi fsekh bdhak describes an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fsekh” but also “fsakh” and “fsa5”. 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 “fsekh” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to erase, to rub out”; “to delete (a file, a message)”: fassa5 in Tunisian.