pila پيلة
Algerian Darja · noun
“pila” (پيلة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning small battery, cell.
Meanings
- small battery, cell
- battery of a small device
Usage
Pila comes from French "pile", adapted to the Arabic feminine ending -a. It is the usual word for the batteries of a remote control, a watch, a calculator or a blood pressure monitor. The usual plural is pilat. A battery is said to be used up with kemlet or mattet ("it's finished, dead"). For a car battery, batri is used instead. The word belongs to the everyday informal register and is used throughout the country. It also has a figurative use: a very energetic person is said to "run on pila".
Example
التيليكوموند ما راهيش تخدم، لازم نبدلو البيلة
la télécommande ma rahich tekhdem, lazem nbedlou la pila
“The remote doesn't work anymore, we need to change the battery.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “pila” but also “bila”, “pilla” and “pilat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.