ch3ir شعير
Tunisian Derja · noun
“ch3ir” (شعير) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning barley.
Meanings
- barley
Usage
Ch3ir means barley, a cereal very present in traditional Tunisian cooking. It is heard mostly in khobz ch3ir, "barley bread", appreciated as a rustic bread and reputed to be healthier. Crushed barley is used to make dchicha, a soup, as well as certain kinds of couscous. The word is collective: it is not pluralised. It appears in the popular song "bent el 9am7 w bent ech-ch3ir", where barley and wheat evoke the land and the countryside. Pronunciation: the ch is a hushing sound and the 3 stands for the guttural consonant ʿayn.
Example
أمي طيبت خبز شعير
ommi tayybet khobz ch3ir
“My mother made barley bread.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch3ir” but also “cha3ir”, “chaair” and “sh3ir”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “ch3ir” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “barley”: ch3ir in Moroccan.