bahet باهت
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“bahet” (باهت) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning pale, dull (color).
Meanings
- pale, dull (color)
- washed-out, faded
- faint, weak
Usage
Bahet describes mainly a color that lacks brightness: a garment faded by washing, paint dulled by the sun, a lifeless complexion. You say lloun bahet ("the color is dull") or, in the feminine, bahta, for example ch-chemiya bahta. The word carries a nuance of worn-out, shabby, stronger than plain "light". For a color that is deliberately light, fatah is used instead. Applied to a person, it describes a pale or tired face. Be careful not to confuse it with mbahet, which means "stunned, speechless".
Example
هاد التيشورت ولا باهت من كثرة التصبين
had t-tichort wella bahet men kethrat t-tsbin
“This T-shirt has gone dull from being washed so much.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bahet” but also “ba8t”, “bahte” and “ba8et”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 8 is light ha (ه) or ghayn (غ), depending on the writer.
Type “bahet” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “stunned, frozen, speechless”; “dull, pale (colour)”: bahet in Tunisian.