wa3er واعر
Algerian Darja · adjective
“wa3er” (واعر) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning hard, difficult.
Meanings
- hard, difficult
- great, awesome
- tough, formidable (person)
Usage
Wa3er (feminine wa3ra) first means "difficult" or "hard": an exam, a situation, a road. Applied to a person, it means strict, tough or formidable. Among young people especially, it has taken on an admiring sense, "great" or "impressive": rak wa3er ! (you're so good!). Context decides between the two meanings. The comparative is aw3er (harder). The register is colloquial and very common. The digit 3 stands for the 'ayn in arabizi spelling.
Example
الامتحان كان واعر بزاف
l-imti7an kan wa3er bezzaf
“The exam was very hard.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “wa3er” but also “wa3r”, “wa3re”, “wa3ar” and “waer”. 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 “wa3er” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “great, awesome, skilled”; “hard, tough”: wa3er in Moroccan.