bazness بزناس
Tunisian Derja · noun
“bazness” (بزناس) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning drug dealer.
Meanings
- drug dealer
- shady trafficker, hustler
Usage
Bazness means someone who lives off illicit trade, especially reselling drugs (zatla in particular). By extension, it describes a person who lives off schemes and trafficking. The word comes from English "business" and is well integrated into Derja. It is informal and clearly pejorative, without being a vulgarity: it is used to describe or accuse someone, often alongside other derogatory terms. The usual plural is bzanssa. Pitfall for an English speaker: it does not mean a businessman. In Tunisian French, "bezness" can also refer to a self-interested seducer of tourists; do not confuse that sense with this one.
Example
البوليس شدّ البزناس متاع الحومة
el boulis chadd el bazness mta3 el 7ouma
“The police arrested the neighbourhood dealer.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bazness” but also “bezness”, “bznes”, “baznes” and “bzness”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “bazness” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “dealer, drug seller”; “hustler, wheeler-dealer”: beznas in Moroccan.