3lej علاج
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3lej” (علاج) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning medical treatment, care.
Meanings
- medical treatment, care
- remedy, solution to a problem
Usage
The word 3lej (or 3laj) first refers to the treatment of an illness, in the sense of care or a course of treatment. One says 3andou 3lej for "he is undergoing treatment", and 3lej nafsi for psychotherapy. By extension, it also means "remedy" or "solution", including figuratively: ma famma 3lej, "there is nothing to be done". The word is in the everyday register and is used in conversation as well as on the radio or in the media. The medicine itself is more usually called dwa. The corresponding verb is 3allej, "to treat, to cure".
Example
الطبيب عطاني علاج لمدة جمعة.
ettbib 3tani 3lej lmoddet jem3a.
“The doctor gave me a week's treatment.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3lej” but also “3laj”, “3léj”, “alej” and “3ilej”. 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 “3lej” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “medical treatment, care”; “therapy”: 3ilaj in Moroccan.