wessa3 وسع
Algerian Darja · verb
“wessa3” (وسع) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning widen, enlarge.
Meanings
- widen, enlarge
- grant ease, relieve
- be patient (wessa3 balek)
Usage
Wessa3 means to make wider: a room, a road, a garment. It appears in several very common expressions. Wessa3 balek means "be patient, keep your calm". Rabbi ywessa3 3lih is an invocation for a deceased person, asking that his grave be spacious and that he find rest. Rabbi ywessa3 rez9ek wishes someone material comfort. The passive or reflexive verb is twessa3 (to widen, to be at ease). With ma3arif, it also means to broaden one's knowledge.
Example
لازم نوسعو الدار، ولات صغيرة علينا.
lazem nwess3ou ddar, wellat sghira 3lina.
“We need to enlarge the house, it has become too small for us.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “wessa3” but also “wassa3”, “wesse3”, “ywessa3” and “wsa3”. 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 “wessa3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to widen, to enlarge”; “to be patient, calm down”: wsse3 in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “to widen, enlarge a space”; “to move over, make room”: wassa3 in Tunisian.