i7bat إحباط

Moroccan Darija · noun

“i7bat” (إحباط) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning frustration, discouragement.

Meanings

1. frustration, discouragement
2. demotivation

Usage

I7bat comes from Standard Arabic. It is used mostly in a formal register or by educated young people to describe a psychological state: discouragement, loss of motivation, deep disappointment. One says "3ndi i7bat" (I feel discouraged) or "7ass b l-i7bat" (to feel frustration). In casual conversation, the same idea is more often expressed with phrases like "m9allaq" or "ma3endi jhd", or with the verb "t9ell3at liya". The word has a serious connotation and is poorly suited to minor everyday annoyances.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “i7bat” but also “i7baat”, “ihbat” and “2i7bat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop; 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.

Type “i7bat” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “discouragement, demoralization”; “deep disappointment”: i7bat in Tunisian.