to9ba تقبة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“to9ba” (تقبة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning hole.
Meanings
- hole
- perforation (clothing, wall, tire)
Usage
The word to9ba means a hole or opening: a hole in a wall, in a piece of clothing, in a tire, or a perforation in medicine. Its plural is t9ab. It is an everyday word in a neutral register. The related verb, te99eb, means "to pierce, to make a hole in". For a hole dug in the ground, 7ofra is the usual word. To9ba therefore mostly refers to an opening that goes through something. A pitfall for an English speaker: the 9 in online spellings represents the sound q.
Example
ياكما عندي شي تقبة فالمعدة
yakma 3ndi chi to9ba flm3da
“Could I have a hole in my stomach?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “to9ba” but also “t9ba”, “tou9ba” and “toqba”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.