mchbouh مشبوه
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“mchbouh” (مشبوه) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning suspicious, shady.
Meanings
- suspicious, shady
Usage
Mchbouh comes from the standard register but is well integrated into darija. It describes a person, a behaviour, a place or a matter that inspires distrust: had rrajel mchbouh, chi 7aja mchbouha. The feminine is mchbouha and the plural is mchbouhin. It is used a lot in crime news and in conversations about security. The register is neutral. In a more informal style, people also say that something "fiha chi 7aja" ("there is something fishy about it").
Example
راه مشبوه هاد الراجل
rah mchbouh had rajel
“This man is suspicious.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “mchbouh” but also “mchbou8”, “mchbo8”, “mshbouh” and “mchbooh”. 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 “mchbouh” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “suspicious, shady”; “of dubious origin”: machbouh in Tunisian.