7tab حطب
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7tab” (حطب) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning firewood, wood for burning.
Meanings
- firewood, wood for burning
Usage
7tab means cut wood meant to be burned. It is used for heating, for the traditional oven (tabouna, kousha) or for the kanoun. It is a collective noun: you say "7tab" with no plural for wood in general, and "3oud 7tab" for a single log. Common expressions are "ylemm el 7tab" (to gather wood) and "y7ell 7tab" (to go and get firewood). The word often evokes rural life or the cooking of the past. It is not used for carpentry wood, which is called khchab.
Example
مشى يلم الحطب للكانون
mcha ylemm el 7tab lel kanoun
“He went to gather firewood for the kanoun.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7tab” but also “htab”, “7atab”, “hatab” and “7teb”. 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.