7arb حرب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7arb” (حرب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning war.
Meanings
- war
- conflict, fierce struggle
Usage
7arb is the usual word for "war", identical in derja and Standard Arabic. It is found in expressions such as "7arb ahliya" (civil war) or "jarimet 7arb" (war crime). These phrases often come from journalistic register, but everyone understands them. Figuratively, the word means a fierce struggle, for example in "7arb 3la el as3ar" (a price war). The plural is 7roub. The noun is feminine in Classical Arabic, but agreement varies in speech. In arabizi, it is written with 7 to render the guttural h.
Example
الحرب ما فيها حتى خير
el 7arb ma fiha 7atta khir
“War brings nothing good.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7arb” but also “harb”, “7rab” and “hrb”. 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 “7arb” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “war”; “conflict, bitter rivalry”: 7erb in Moroccan.
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “war, armed conflict”; “fight, struggle (figurative)”: harb in Algerian.