cha3bi شعبي
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“cha3bi” (شعبي) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning popular, of the people.
Meanings
- popular, of the people
- Moroccan chaabi music
- traditional, folk
Usage
Cha3bi means "popular" in the sense of "belonging to the people", not "liked by many". A 7ay cha3bi is a working-class, modest neighbourhood. A cha3bi dish is a simple, traditional dish. Used as a noun, with the article (ch-cha3bi), it means chaabi music, festive, played at weddings and danced to. Beware of the false friend: to say that something is liked or fashionable, other expressions are used. The feminine is cha3biya, for example in the expression lmousi9a cha3biya (popular music).
Example
هاد الحي شعبي بزاف
had l7y cha3bi bzaf
“This neighbourhood is very working-class.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “cha3bi” but also “ch3bi”, “cha3bii”, “chaabi” and “che3bi”. 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 “cha3bi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “popular, of the people”; “chaabi music (Algiers genre)”: chaabi in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “popular, of the people”; “traditional, folk (music, neighborhood)”: cha3bi in Tunisian.