rhib رهيب
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“rhib” (رهيب) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning awesome, amazing (informal, positive).
Meanings
- awesome, amazing (informal, positive)
- frightening, dreadful
Usage
Rhib is used mainly by young people in the positive sense of "awesome" or "really cool". Like colloquial French "terrible", it describes a film, a match, a dish or a person. It is often used on its own as an exclamation: "rhib!". The original sense, "frightening" or "dreadful", remains alive in a more formal register or in the media. Only context and intonation settle which is meant. The feminine is rhiba and the plural is rhibin. An English speaker should not assume criticism at first: in everyday conversation the word is almost always praise.
Example
داك الفيلم كان رهيب، عجبني بزاف
dak lfilm kan rhib, 3jebni bzaf
“That film was awesome, I really liked it.”
Forms
| feminine | ra8iiba |
|---|---|
| plural | ra8iibin |
| feminine plural | ra8iibat |
Forms as recorded in DODa, in its spelling.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “rhib” but also “rahib”, “ra8ib”, “r8ib” and “ra8iib”. 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 “rhib” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “awesome, great, impressive”; “terrible, intense (negative sense)”: rhib in Algerian.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “awesome, excellent, impressive”; “terrible, frightening, huge”: rhib in Tunisian.