3jina عجينة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3jina” (عجينة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning dough (bread, cake).
Meanings
- dough (bread, cake)
- lump of dough
Usage
The word 3jina refers to the dough made of flour and water before baking: bread dough, cake dough, brik dough or pastry dough. It is used mainly in home cooking vocabulary: dough is said to "rise" with the verb tkhammer, and it is kneaded before being left to rest. It does not refer to pasta, which is called maqrouna. The fixed expression khraj kif ech-cha3ra mel 3jina, "to come out like a hair from the dough", means to get out of a situation unharmed, easily and without a trace.
Example
خلّي العجينة ترتاح شويّة قبل ما تطيبها.
khalli el 3jina tertah chwaya 9bal ma ttayebha.
“Let the dough rest a little before you bake it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3jina” but also “ajina”, “3jine”, “3ajina” and “aajina”. 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 “3jina” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “dough (bread, cake)”; “ball of dough”: 3jina in Moroccan.