9atel قاتل
Tunisian Derja · noun
“9atel” (قاتل) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning murderer, killer.
Meanings
- murderer, killer
- deadly, fatal
Usage
9atel refers to a person who has killed someone: el 9atel 7kmou 3lih ("the murderer was sentenced"). It is also used as an adjective meaning "deadly": ghalta 9atla ("a fatal mistake"). The feminine is 9atla. It appears in the proverb ya 9atel erou7 win trou7, "you who kill a soul, where will you go?", which reminds that a crime does not escape punishment. The word belongs to the everyday register. It is frequent in crime news reports.
Example
البوليس شدّ القاتل البارح.
el bolis chadd el 9atel lbere7.
“The police arrested the murderer yesterday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9atel” but also “qatel”, “9atil”, “katel” and “qatil”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.