3dheb عذاب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3dheb” (عذاب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning suffering, ordeal.
Meanings
- suffering, ordeal
- divine punishment
Usage
3dheb denotes painful, lasting suffering, physical or moral. In colloquial speech it is often used hyperbolically for a chore or an unpleasant situation: hedha 3dheb! ("what an ordeal!"). One also says 3icht 3dheb ("I went through hell"). In the religious register, it means divine punishment, for example 3dheb el qbar ("the torment of the grave"). The related verb 3adheb means "to torment, to make suffer". The word belongs to both everyday speech and Standard Arabic.
Example
التاكسي في الصيف عذاب
e-taxi fel sif 3dheb
“Taking a taxi in summer is an ordeal.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3dheb” but also “3dhab”, “adheb” and “3deb”. 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.