3atba عتبة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3atba” (عتبة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning doorstep, threshold.
Meanings
- doorstep, threshold
- stair step
Usage
3atba is the threshold of a door, the stone or step you cross to go in. The expression 3atbet dar (the threshold of the house) often means the home itself. Several popular beliefs surround the threshold: people avoid sitting on it or pouring hot water on it. From the same root, ma 3tabt3atbtou means "I haven't set foot in his house." The word can also mean a step. The figurative sense of "threshold" (a numerical minimum) belongs more to the administrative register.
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3atba” but also “atba”, “aatba” and “3atbet”. 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 “3atba” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “threshold (of a door)”; “step (of a staircase)”: 3tba in Moroccan.