chab3a شبعة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“chab3a” (شبعة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning a good dose, one's fill.
Meanings
- a good dose, one's fill
- filling meal, full belly
Usage
Chab3a originally refers to being full after eating: klit chab3a, "I ate my fill". The liveliest use is figurative: chab3a dh7ak, "a good helping of laughter", very common in online comments to say you laughed a lot at a video or a show. People also say chab3a noum for a long, restorative sleep. The word comes before the noun it quantifies, with no preposition. The register is informal, affectionate, often positive. The English "a good dose" or "one's fill" conveys the idea of fullness without excess.
Example
والله شبعة ضحك البارح
wallah chab3a dh7ak lbere7
“Honestly, we laughed our fill yesterday.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chab3a” but also “cheb3a”, “shab3a”, “chab3et” and “chaba3a”. 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.