3bed عباد
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3bed” (عباد) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning people.
Meanings
- people
- some people, a crowd
Usage
3bed is the ordinary word for "people" in Tunisian. It is a collective noun that takes plural agreement: la3bed ygoulou, "people say". It is common in complaints about other people's judgment, as in klem la3bed ("what people will say") or la3bed ma tarja3ch ("people don't change"). Without the article it means "some people, a crowd": fama 3bed barcha ("there are lots of people"). The religious sense of "servants (of God)" belongs to classical Arabic. Do not confuse it with 3abbad, the sunflower, found in the expression 3abbad echams.
Example
العباد الكلّ يحسدوك على اقلّ حاجة
la3bed ilkoll ya7sdouk 3ala a9all 7aja
“People all envy you for the slightest thing.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3bed” but also “3bad”, “e3bed” and “abed”. 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 “3bed” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “people, persons”; “servants of God”: 3bad in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “people, persons”; “creatures, servants of God”: 3bad in Algerian.