dbe3 ضبع
Moroccan Darija · noun
“dbe3” (ضبع) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning hyena.
Meanings
- hyena
Usage
Ḍbe3 means the hyena, an animal with an important place in Moroccan folk beliefs. Certain parts of its body, especially the brain, are thought to have a bewitching power: to explain why someone has become docile or dazed, people say he was made to eat hyena brain. In conversation, the word is also sometimes used for a person who is dull-witted or cunning. The word is masculine. The article assimilates: ḍ-ḍbe3. Do not confuse it with ḍba3, "fingers", which is a rare form.
Example
قالو باللي شافو ضبع فالغابة.
galo belli chafo Dbe3 f lghaba.
“They said they saw a hyena in the forest.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dbe3” but also “db3”, “dba3” and “dbaa”. 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 “dbe3” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “hyena (animal)”; “big hulking guy (colloquial)”: dhba3 in Tunisian.