5atib خطيب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“5atib” (خطيب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning fiancé.
Meanings
- fiancé
- orator, preacher
Usage
In everyday speech, "5atib" means "fiancé". It is almost always used with a possessive: "5atibi" (my fiancé), "5atibha" (her fiancé). The feminine is "5atiba" (fiancée). The sense of "orator" or "preacher" (the one who gives the sermon) also exists, but it belongs to a more formal, religious or political register. Context makes it easy to tell the two senses apart. The word refers to a man who is engaged before the marriage contract; after the marriage, you say "rajel" (husband).
Example
لالناس الكلّ و اوّلهم خطيبي
Lenas lkol w awelhom 5atibi
“To everyone, and first of all my fiancé.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “5atib” but also “khatib”, “5atiib” and “5tib”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 5 is kha (خ), like the ch in Scottish loch.
Type “5atib” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “fiancé”; “Friday sermon preacher”: khtib in Moroccan.