ch7an شحن

Tunisian Derja · verb

“ch7an” (شحن) is a verb in Tunisian Derja meaning to charge, top up (phone, credit, battery).

Meanings

1. to charge, top up (phone, credit, battery)
2. to load, ship (goods)
3. top-up, charging (noun)

Usage

Chhan (imperfective yechhen) is used mainly for charging: a phone battery ("nechhen ettelifoun") or phone credit ("chhant 5 dinars"). It also means loading or shipping goods. As a noun, chhan means a top-up or a shipment. "Na9d walla chhan ?" depends on context: cash payment or top-up, delivery. In speech, the French "charger", adapted as charjé, is common for batteries. The figurative sense of "turning someone against another" belongs rather to standard Arabic.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ch7an” but also “sh7an”. 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.

Type “ch7an” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to load (goods, vehicle)”; “to charge (phone, battery)”: ch7en in Moroccan.