7acharet حشرات
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7acharet” (حشرات) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning insects.
Meanings
- insects
- bugs, critters
Usage
7acharet is the plural of 7achra (insect). The word covers insects in the broad sense, but also, in everyday use, all sorts of small crawling or flying creatures found in the house or garden, even if they are not insects in the strict sense. For specific species, particular names are used: khanfous (cockroach), namla (ant), na3moussa (mosquito). One says for example el dar fiha 7acharet (the house has bugs). The word is neutral and is used both in speech and in writing.
Example
الصيف يكثرو الحشرات في الدار.
essif yekthrou el 7acharet fel dar.
“In summer, bugs multiply in the house.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7acharet” but also “hacharet”, “7acharat”, “hacharat” and “7chart”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “7acharet” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “insects”; “bugs, critters”: 7acharat in Moroccan.