3laf علف
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3laf” (علف) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning fodder, animal feed.
Meanings
- fodder, animal feed
Usage
3laf refers to feed given to livestock: hay, barley, bran, compound feeds. The word comes up often in discussions about farming and rising prices, for example "souum el 3laf" (the price of fodder). With a possessive, one says "3lafha" (its feed, of an animal). Never use it for human food. Applied to a person, it becomes contemptuous, as it amounts to treating them like an animal.
Example
سوم العلف طلع برشا هالعام
souum el 3laf tla3 barcha hel 3am
“The price of fodder has gone up a lot this year.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3laf” but also “3alf”, “3lef” and “alf”. 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 “3laf” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “fodder, livestock feed”: 3lef in Moroccan.