3chba عشبة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3chba” (عشبة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning herb, plant.
Meanings
- herb, plant
- medicinal herb
Usage
3chba refers to an herb or a small plant. The plural 3chub is used mainly for medicinal plants sold at the herbalist's (l3cháb). For example, you say 3chba dyal lkerch for an herb for stomach aches. In the collective sense, the vegetation that grows on the ground is also called rbi3. The English gloss "bush" is approximate: a bush is rather called ders or chejra sghira. The word is common in all registers and is not formal at all.
Example
شرب شي عشبة للكرش
chreb chi 3chba l lkerch
“Drink some herb for your stomach.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3chba” but also “3ochba”, “3achba”, “3shba”, “3chob” and “3oshb”. 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.