badil بديل

Tunisian Derja · noun

“badil” (بديل) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning substitute, replacement.

Meanings

1. substitute, replacement
2. alternative

Usage

Badil comes from Standard Arabic but is well established in the spoken language. In football, it refers to the substitute player or the one brought on in place of another. More broadly, it refers to a person or thing that can replace another. The phrase "ma3andouch badil", "he has no replacement", is often used as praise: the person or thing is irreplaceable. You also say "mélouch badil" for something with no equivalent. The register is neutral, common in speech as well as in the media.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “badil” but also “bdil”, “badiil” and “badeel”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “badil” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “alternative, other option”; “replacement, substitute”: badil in Moroccan.