3asfour عصفور
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3asfour” (عصفور) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning bird, small bird.
Meanings
- bird, small bird
Usage
3asfour is the usual word for "bird", especially a small bird such as a sparrow or a caged bird. The plural is 3sasfir. It appears in species names, for example "3asfour zitoun". A bird cage is "9fas 3asfour". For large birds, their own name is used (nasr, 7ouma…), or the generic term tir. Said of a person, 3asfour suggests lightness or smallness: "kima el 3asfour", light as a bird.
Example
عندي عصفور في قفص في الدار
3andi 3asfour fi 9fas fi dar
“I have a bird in a cage at home.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3asfour” but also “asfour”, “3osfour” and “3sfour”. 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.
Type “3asfour” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “small bird, sparrow”; “bird (in general)”: 3sfour in Moroccan.