kaykhle3 كايخلع
Moroccan Darija · verb
“kaykhle3” (كايخلع) is a verb in Moroccan Darija meaning is frightening, scary.
Meanings
- is frightening, scary
- is horrible, awful
- is astonishing, shocking
Usage
Kaykhle3 is the imperfect of khle3, "to frighten, to scare". Used without an object, it works like an adjective: hadchi kaykhle3, "it's frightening, it's awful". With a pronoun, it keeps its verb meaning: khle3tini, "you scared me". The form tkhle3 means "to be afraid, to startle". In colloquial speech, the word also expresses astonishment at something shocking or out of the ordinary, and context decides the nuance. It should not be confused with the Standard Arabic verb meaning "to remove, to tear off". The feminine is katkhle3.
Example
هادشي كايخلع بزاف
hadshi kaykhl3 bzaf
“This is really scary.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “kaykhle3” but also “kaykhl3”, “kaykhla3” and “kaykhlaa”. 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.