lekbir لكبير
Algerian Darja · adjective
“lekbir” (لكبير) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning the big one, the biggest.
Meanings
- the big one, the biggest
- the eldest, the oldest
- the great, the eminent
Usage
Lekbir is the form of kbir (big) with the article, as it is pronounced. It appears in very common expressions: l'3id lekbir (Eid al-Kabir, the feast of the sacrifice), khouya lekbir (my older brother), "lekbir fihom" (the oldest of them). Used alone, lekbir can mean the eldest or the leader of a group. In a laudatory register, it is also used for a respected artist (fennanna lekbir). The feminine form is lekbira.
Example
خويا لكبير خدام في فرنسا
khouya lekbir khdam f França
“My big brother works in France.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “lekbir” but also “lkbir” and “lakbir”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “lekbir” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “the big one”; “the eldest, the oldest”: lkbir in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “the big one, the biggest”; “the eldest”: lekbir in Tunisian.