3ridha عريضة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3ridha” (عريضة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning petition, collective written request.
Meanings
- petition, collective written request
- complaint or request to an authority
- wide (feminine)
Usage
3riDha refers to a written text addressed to an administration, a court or an authority to demand something or to complain. People say "9addem 3riDha" (submit a petition) or "ktib 3riDha" (write a complaint), often before the prosecutor or the municipality. The word belongs to the administrative register, but it is very common in conversation. The same word is also the feminine of the adjective 3riDh (wide), especially in the expression "twila 3riDha", which means "long and wide" or, figuratively, "at great length, without restraint". Context tells the two apart.
Example
عملنا عريضة ومضاوها الجيران الكل.
3malna 3riDha w mdhewha ljiran lkol.
“We made a petition and all the neighbors signed it.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3ridha” but also “3aridha”, “3ridhaa”, “aridha” and “3rida”. 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.