3ti9al عتقال
Moroccan Darija · noun
“3ti9al” (عتقال) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning arrest.
Meanings
- arrest
- detention, imprisonment
Usage
The word 3ti9al, often pronounced with the article (l-i3ti9al), comes from the journalistic and administrative register. It is heard mostly when talking about the news, or about legal or political cases. In everyday conversation, an arrest is usually told with a verb: "chedduh" (they caught him) or "ddawh" (they took him away). The noun therefore remains fairly formal. It appears in phrases like "tchedd f l-i3ti9al" (he was taken into detention) or "ma3ti9al" meaning a detainee. The pitfall is using it in a casual sentence, where it sounds stiff.
Example
سمعتي بالعتقال ديال داك الراجل؟
sme3ti b l3ti9al dyal dak rrajel?
“Did you hear about that man's arrest?”
Forms
| plural | 3ti9alat |
|---|
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3ti9al” but also “i3ti9al” and “3tiqal”. 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; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.