rakhef رخف
Algerian Darja · verb
“rakhef” (رخف) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning go easy, ease up.
Meanings
- go easy, ease up
- loosen, slacken
- become soft or slack
Usage
Rakhef is used mostly in the imperative to ask someone to be less strict, less demanding or less tense. The typical construction is rakhef chwiya, "ease up a bit", with 3la or m3a to indicate the person being spared: rakhef 3lih, rakhef m3ah. The expression rakhef yeddik means "loosen your grip" or, figuratively, "be less harsh". The register is informal and common. In the concrete sense, the verb applies to a rope or a grip that is being loosened. Note: the simple form, rkhef, means rather "to become soft or slack".
Example
رخّف شوية عليه، راهو صغير.
rakhef chwiya 3lih, rah sghir.
“Go easy on him, he's little.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rakhef” but also “rekhef”, “rakhf”, “rkhef” and “ra5ef”. 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.